A PhD ain't cheap
by LePurpleJoy
Summary: After hard work Wendy officially became a doctor, but earning a PhD came with a price (a very expensive one). With only one week left to pay off the debt, she must seek help from her brothers to earn the remaining amount due. Odd jobs, Heists, Tanks? and more in this tale of every college student's worst nightmare.(Inspired after seeing Wendy in the Dr. Mario mobile Game).
1. Chapter 1

_**This is the first fanfic I ever wrote so bear with me if there are any grammar errors as grammar isn't really my strong suit. This story was inspired after seeing Wendy, Ludwig and Bowser Jr. as playable characters for the Dr. Mario mobile game. (Rated T for language, alcohol use and mild sexual themes.)**_

_**EDIT: 1/31/20- I did some thorough cleaning and editing in this chapter, fixing some grammar errors and run-on sentences, also added some extra lines here and there.**_

* * *

Wendy didn't expect to receive mail today, her monthly subscription for KoopaGirl magazine came roughly a week ago.

Usually, fan mail and suspicious/threatening letters would be ripped up and thrown away by the minions, so she was pretty surprised when one of them came up to her with a letter marked as "**URGENT**" stamped in the front.

She looked at the name of the sender and was strikingly surprised by who it was from.

**Darklands University of Medicine**

"_Oh_" she thought.

She remembered this was the place she was sent to study in by Lord Bowser, in order to aid the fight against literal viruses that were spreading throughout the Darklands and the Mushroom Kingdom.

The University wasn't that bad in all honesty, the campus was very open with luxuriously rich grass and plant life, the campus food was delicious and the professors were clear and informative. It was just an overall beautiful atmosphere, a stark contrast from the Darklands, well, "**_Dark_**" setting.

She would've enjoyed the College experience more, if it weren't for the fact that her time there was a complete **NIGHTMARE**. The all-nighters she had to endure in order to finish the assignments that were due by the morning, the long caffeine-driven study sessions she went through in her dorm and in the college library, Oh how she desperately wished for the torture to end.

At least she wasn't alone in her torment as Lord Bowser would send her older brother Ludwig and Lord Junior to the University as well.

By the looks of it, Junior wasn't very pleased in going back to school, Ludwig on the other hand, beamed at the site of the Medical University.

However, space was pretty tight as there was only two dorms available, so a room had to be shared between her and Ludwig, while Junior would get his own.

_He is the Prince after all... _

While the lack of privacy was frustrating, she didn't mind having Ludwig as a roommate, he is the cleanest of all of her brothers and much to her annoyance, the smartest of the Koopalings. Heck, he already has two degrees to his name already, a Master's in both Literature and Musical Arts. The only other person to come close to him was Iggy, who has a Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering.

There was a reason they called him the _"Pompous Prodigy",_ No one could match his intelligence.

_Or his massive ego either._

Much to her surprise, he pushed his selfishness to the side as he aided her whenever she was stuck in an assignment problem, he would take his time to carefully explain a concept she had a hard time understanding and tutor her before an exam so she can have a better chance of getting a good grade.

Junior would often come to their dorm and ask for help in his assignments as well, but it was more like him wanting either her or Ludwig to do the work for him.

How Junior managed to graduate was beyond her.

_Little brat probably cheated on his test or bribed and blackmailed the professors for all she knew._

At the end of it all, she would barely pass, but at least she didn't have to endure anymore of this crap. As for Ludwig, he passed… by a long-shot. His marks were exceptional and was named valedictorian for the year.

It wasn't a secret that Ludwig was stoked when Bowser told him he was going to medical school to become a doctor, he was always a bookworm that loved education and learning new things, plus a PhD wouldn't hurt in his already impressive resume.

She doesn't blame him for it, cause once she gets her PhD, the first thing she will do is head straight to Iggy and Roy and shove it in their faces, screaming to the skies on how wrong they were in telling her that she would never be able to graduate.

Roy would most likely just shrug and walk away, while Iggy would laugh maniacally, but look at her in a way that says,

_"you better watch yourself."_

It was times like these that she was very thankful that Ludwig was the one she had to share a dorm with.

If Roy was sent instead, he would've spend his time bringing random College girls to their dorm and perform explicit acts of carnivorous lovemaking, she wouldn't be able to sleep with all the noise they'll be making.

If it was Iggy who she had to share with, she would rather just sleep in the Library or in front of Junior's dorm. She meant no disrespect to her tall lanky brother, she knows he has some problems and is quite lonely, mostly hanging out with just Lemmy. She would hang out with him more, if it weren't for the fact that he was so damn creepy.

One time while she was sleeping, Iggy managed to sneak in her room and stood by the side of the bed just staring at her. She literally had a heart attack when she opened her eyes and saw wide crazy eyes looking down at her with a large psychotic grin.

"Why hello there dear Sister." he said before running out of the room laughing hysterically.

She vowed after that day, that she wouldn't be alone in the same room as him.

If Larry was the one sent, he would've most likely been expelled from the University after they catch him stealing pharmaceutical drugs and medical equipment while trying to sell it in the black market. The youngest Koopaling was well known throughout the Castle as a kleptomaniac.

As for Lemmy and Morton, there was no hope for them. The day they actually go to college will be the day she starts growing hair.

When Graduation day came she couldn't be happier, the event was held in the Electrodome in the middle of Neo Bowser City and was highly televised throughout the Koopa Kingdom. Bowser, Kamek and the rest of the Koopalings were in attendance along with several thousands of citizens who wanted to witness the historic event.

Wendy awaited to be called on stage in order to receive her diploma, she was sitting by the end of the row followed by Ludwig and then Junior, while the rest of the graduating class sat ahead of Wendy, all of them appropriately wearing a black cap and gown.

The graduating class consisted of seven magikoopas, five koopa troopas, four shy guys, three paratroopas, two hammer bros, two boos, and one lone dry bones and goomba. The one who was making the commencement speech and calling the names of the graduates while handing their diplomas was none other than Kammy Koopa. Besides being a high ranking magikoopa, she was also a devoted registered nurse who was widely respected among the medical community and the Koopa Troop.

Soon the rest of the class was called and retrieved their diplomas, Wendy was waiting at the end of the stage for her name to be called, Ludwig was right behind her followed by Junior, they were all nervous but prideful of the moment.

She looked back and saw Ludwig adjusting Junior's tie, making sure the young prince looked presentable before being called. Junior gave him a thumbs up, followed with a quirky grin.

"Without further ado, I would like to introduce to the center of the stage this amazing young lady, who has made the Darklands very proud today, Doctor Wendy O. Koopa!"

The Electrodome filled with loud applause, whistling and cheering as Wendy with a large blush in her face started walking to Kammy on the center of the stage, with one hand she grabbed her diploma and the other she shook hands with Kammy who was smiling happily at her.

"Well done, Mistress Wendy" she said.

Wendy couldn't help but smile back, they turned their heads towards the front, still holding hands as pictures were taken from the photographers and paparazzi. Wendy gazed up and saw Bowser and Kamek grinning proudly at her and clapping happily with the rest of the Koopalings doing a bit of the same.

Lemmy seems like he was trying to clap the loudest while jumping around, while Roy and Iggy were doing slow caps, the two probably still salty that she obliterated their expectations.

After a moment, she let go of Kammy's hand and took her diploma, she walked off the other end of the stage and returned to her seat.

Soon after, Ludwig was called…

"It is with great honor that I introduce an intelligent, handsome young man, the pompous prodigy himself, Doctor Ludwig Von Koopa!"

The Electrodome would once again fill with loud clapping and cheering with the occasional _"MARRY ME LUDWIG!"_ being yelled from an enamored fangirl. Ludwig walked to the center of the stage and shook Kammy's hand firmly while grabbing the diploma with the other, Wendy got a good look at him when both their heads turned for the cameras, she saw that his blue hair was looking more vibrant and silky than before and saw that his claws were well trimmed, he sure went the extra mile for this moment. She couldn't help but notice his derpy smile he was giving to the cameras, a contrast to his usual smug grin he always has, she will never say this in front of him, but it made him look adorable.

Ludwig walked off the stage and returned to his seat next to her where he released a sigh of relief, Wendy placed her hand on Ludwig's arm and smiled warmly to him, he responded by putting his hand over hers and returned the smile with his own, both happy of what they accomplished together.

"And now ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for, I am proud to announce to the center of the stage, none other then the Lord prince of the Darklands, the heir to the Throne, Doctor Bowser Koopa Junior!"

The Electrodome filled with thunderous applause as everyone including herself and Ludwig stood up to clap and cheer for the young prince. Junior jumped and skipped his way to the center of the stage, where he quickly shook hands with Kammy and took pictures before grabbing the diploma and began waving frantically back to the crowd.

Wendy looked behind and saw Bowser clapping and smiling proudly at his son, it looked as though he was about to cry.

When the graduation ceremony ended, there was a huge after-party that took place, the stage soon became the center for the DJ (who was none other than Larry) and where the seats used to be, became the dance floor. The party lasted for several hours as Wendy and the rest of the graduates had an absolute blast dancing and drinking the night away.

In the end, the airship would arrive to take Bowser, Junior and the rest of the Koopalings back home. Bowser had Junior who was fast asleep over his shoulder, while Morton was holding onto Roy who was drunk out of his mind. They would all soon return back to the Castle where Wendy placed her P.h.D in a frame and hung it on her bedroom wall, she smirked proudly at it before going to bed to a peaceful slumber.

Wendy sighed fondly to the memory before she was brought back to the letter in front of her, she opened it and unfolded it, expecting a congratulatory message from the University.

Her smile diminished once she started reading over the letter.

"Oh no" she said.

"Oh no no no no no no no no no…" she constantly repeated as she attempted to reread the letter over and over again hoping to see a mistake.

When the search for it became fruitless, she started to freak out.

"This can't be… I n-need to speak to Lord Bowser about this!"

She would take the letter with her as she frantically runs to find him.

* * *

_**Author Notes**_**:**

_**Like I said before, this is my first fanfic , so any criticism you have I welcome it greatly.**_

_**The amount of chapters for the story is unknown and new chapters might be uploaded sporadically.**_

_**Might post this in Archive on our own once I figure out the format.**_

_**Original Cover Art is from shinygiratinas Tumblr.**_

_**Thank You for reading!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Here's to a brand new decade, hope the best of wishes to everyone reading.**_

_**This is by far the longest chapter I wrote , then again this is just the second chapter I wrote ever, Heh. Hopefully there isn't a lot of grammatical errors.  
**_

_**There is an original character in this chapter but it's more of a minor character that won't be used that much throughout the story.**_

_**The T rating will be used to the max in the beginning of this chapter, so things might get a bit awkward for some readers. (Rated T for language, alcohol use and mild sexual themes.)**_

_**EDIT: 1/31/20- Same as last chapter, cleaned up and edited multiple grammatical errors and run-on sentences.**_

* * *

The sun beamed brightly today in the shores of Isle Delfino as Bowser was lying in his beach chair soaking the sunlight, enjoying the noise of the seagulls flying by, the calm waves crashing by the shorelines and the feel of the soft breeze blowing upon him.

He would hear shuffling of sand to the right of him as Bowser Jr. came up to him with a spring in his step.

"Hey Papa, Me and the Koopalings are about to start a sand castle competition, we were wondering if you would like to join us?" he asked joyfully.

Bowser smiled warmly at his son, "In a moment son, let me just enjoy the sun for a few, why don't you go back and play with your siblings, I'll be there in a moment."

"Ok Papa!" Junior said before he rushed to him and gave him a quick hug, he ran back to the other side of the beach where the Koopalings would be.

Bowser sighed fondly as Junior turned the corner away from his eye view.

"I was always so touched on how you always treated your children Bowser." a female voice said.

Bowser turned to his left and saw the women of his dreams, Princess Peach, in a tight pink bikini showing her cleavage and her thick thighs for him to see.

"Seeing you being a father made you look very attractive, especially to me." she giggled as she strutted to Bowser, making sure she was swaying her hips with each step. Bowser sat up straight as Peach sat on his lap and rested her head on his chest, he wrapped his arms around her and gave a kiss on the forehead to his newly wedded wife.

Bowser finally accomplished his long last dream as he defeated the pesky Red Plummer Mario and his cowardly brother, took full control of the Mushroom Kingdom, proposed to the princess in which she accepted with open arms, making her the Koopa Queen of the Darklands as well as Bowser Jr's new mother, and adopted the Koopalings as his own. He could have never been more happier than he is now.

And now, he was enjoying his long overdue honeymoon with the girl he loved, and what better place to enjoy it then in Isle Delfino, where Peach would meet Junior for the first time. He would bring all his kids along with him but made sure that both him and the princess had their own room for well… _"Stress Relief."_

Peach placed both hands on his face and smiled warmly at him, "I Love You Bowser." she said before they both started passionately kissing.

Bowser laid back as Peach crawled on top of him, both hungrily kissing each other, their mouths and tongues fighting for control. They would soon separate to get some air, a stream of saliva still connected between both their mouths.

She dragged a finger slowly up and down his chest, "Why don't we have a bit of fun here and now my lovely husband." she seductively said.

Bowser's eyes opened wide, "But what if Junior or one of the kids comes back here?"

Peach giggled for a little, "Don't worry, I told Ludwig to stall his siblings for a bit, so we have roughly 5 to 10 minutes of spare time give or take."

Bowser smiled smugly as he put his claws on her hips "And that's why I Love You Peach."

She bit her lip, "Then I'm sure you'll love these."

She reached behind her back and untied her bra, slowly taking it off before she dropped it, Bowser's eyes were wide as saucers as Peach was half naked in front of him, he hungrily licked his lips as he removed his claws from her hips and started to move it to grab her delicious, tender ti-

_**"LOOOOOOORRRDDD BOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWSSSSSEEEEEEERRRRRR!"**_

A shrilling cry jolted Bowser awake as he saw himself no longer in the coast of Isle Delfino, but back in his castle sitting on his throne, his claws in front of him grabbing nothing but air, his beautiful Peach nowhere in sight, he would put both claws to his face as he groaned loudly.

_Just five more minutes, why couldn't it just wait for FIVE DAMN MINUTES!_

He removed his claws from his face and slumped in his throne as reality started settling in, a reality he wished didn't suck so much.

A bang was heard as the large castle doors swung open, Wendy stopped in front of where Bowser was sitting, trying to catch her breath.

Bowser looked down at her with disappointment, he tried with all his might not to start yelling at her.

"Wendy, you better have a DAMN good reason on why you were screaming my name so loudly, because you woke me up from a beautiful dream I will probably never have back. I swear this excuse better be worth it, cause you're _THIS_ close from being sent to rot in the dungeon **FOREVER**!" he roared the last word with so much power and venom that the Castle felt like it was having an earthquake.

Wendy cringed at the sound of his roar, but she really wanted the issue she was having to be resolved, so she waited till the Castle stopped moving so she can continue.

"I'm S-s-sorry Lord B-Bowser but I need help with a situation that I hope you can aid me with."

She proceeded to hand him the folded letter,

"I received this letter from the University you sent me to become a doctor, I think you should read it."

Bowser snatched the letter from Wendy, still angry that she ruined his dream of receiving princess pooch, He unfolded the letter and started reading it.

* * *

_**Darklands University of Medicine**_

_Dear Wendy O. Koopa,_

_We are very happy that you have managed to receive your P.H.D from our Establishment and a wonderful career of being a doctor awaits you, however our services for your education isn't free, and we are expecting a full immediate payment by next week. We have sent you letters multiple times, but you've failed to pay any monthly payment for more than one year, if payment isn't received by next week then severe legal issues will await you, as failing to pay the tuition has immense charges. We hope you've managed to get a hold of this letter because this is your LAST warning._

_With warm regards,_

_The Office of D.U.M_

* * *

Bowser couldn't help but chuckle childlessly to the last line of the letter, whatever genius thought of the name for the University didn't really think it through.

Wendy noticed his chuckling, "This isn't funny Lord Bowser! This is serious!''

"Calm down I wasn't laughing at you, so you didn't pay your college debt in time even though they gave you multiple warnings before." He lifted his eyebrow at her.

She shook her head, "I never once received a letter from them before, I think the minions might of thought it was junk mail and threw out the past warning letters."

Bowser nodded his head at her theory, "Yeah, that would make sense."

He let out a puff of air through his nose, having an idea of what Wendy wanted him to do about this debt.

"So I'm guessing you need help to pay this off and henceforth came to me so I can pay it off. Am I correct in my assumption?"

Wendy looked down and shuffled her feet, too ashamed to look at him, "I'm sorry Lord Bowser, but I thought the tuition was already payed for by you, I only have 20 thousand gold coins in my bank account right now and I don't think I'll be able to get the remaining amount by next week. So I'm pleading with you to help me out with this, please Bowser you're my only hope."

Tears started forming in her eyes as the shame was getting too much for her.

Bowser sighed as he saw her about to cry, he got up from his throne and kneeled in front of her, "Hey shhhh it's okay-" he lifted her head so her eyes looked up to his, "Don't cry Wendy, I'll help you out, I see you're really struggling with this, so I'm gonna do what I can so you don't have to worry about this anymore."

He wiped a tear from her face " I love you as a daughter Wendy and all I want is my daughter to be happy."

She smiled as tears started pouring from her eyes, Bowser opened his arms-

"Come here my little princess."

Wendy rushed to him, both hugging each other tightly, she sobbed on his shoulder as he had an arm around her and his other hand on the back of her head, they stayed like that for awhile as Wendy started to calm herself. They would soon let go and smiled brightly at each other.

"Thank You Dad."

Bowser shrugged nonchalantly, "Eh, it's the least I can do, now lets see how much you owe so I can pay the remaining amount, shouldn't be that much, Junior's tuition was roughly almost a total of 100 thousand gold coins."

Wendy's pupils shrunk as Bowser flipped the paper over, "Um, I- well y-you see…"

It was too late, Bowser's heart stopped when he saw the total amount,

**"OVER ONE MILLION GOLD COINS!"**

He was absolutely flabbergasted at the charge, this was ten times more than what he expected, **"B-BUT HOW DID- ONE MILL H-HOW…"** he stopped when he noticed the specific charges there were-

* * *

Tuition and Fees … 88,000 GC

University Government and Council Tax … 3,600 GC

Recreational Fees … 8,400 GC

_**Vehicular Damage … 920,000 GC**_

Total Amount … 1,020,000 GC

* * *

"Vehicular Damage?" This left Bowser scratching his head.

Weird, they don't charge students to pay for damage to a vehicle… Unless. Putting two and two together he whipped his head back to Wendy who couldn't help but shrink under his gaze, Bowser towered over her, fists clenched with fury in his eyes.

"**WHAT. DID. YOU. DO!"** His voice got more deeper and menacing with every word.

Wendy wished she could just crawl back in her shell and disappear, but knew that she must explain herself to him. "W-well you see I-um may have done s-something very stupid back in the University…"

* * *

_**One and a half years ago**_

Wendy was exhausted, like every little particle of energy was drained and squeezed from her body. She just finished her last 2 midterms today, from a week of 7 midterms total. She just wanted to sleep the rest of the weekend off, but she agreed to go out to the bar just outside the campus tonight with some of her gal pals from her biology class, as a way of celebrating their survival of midterm week.

Her phone vibrated as she received a text;

_**Shy-GiRL95: Wendy baby! We're heading straight towards u as we speak, we are so gonna feel the hangover tmw! **_

Wendy applied the last of her makeup and started to pack some items in her small purse before heading out of her dorm and locking it, Ludwig would return later as he decided to take care of Junior for the night, they would go to a local theme park not far from the campus.

Wendy took out her phone and immediately texted him;

_**Bald_Beauty: I'm heading out now, in case u or Jr. lose ur keys theres a spare by the plants near the door, Anyway u 2 hav fun!**_

Couple minutes later, Ludwig responded;

_**PompousProdigy: Enjoy your night Wendy, stay safe sis, If anything happens or you feel in danger or uncomfortable don't hesitate to call or message me, I'll head to you as quick as possible.**_

_**Bald_Beauty: I'll be fine Ludwig. Just hav fun at the theme park and make sure Jr. doesn't eat too much sweets, see u later, luv u!**_

She put her phone back in her purse and started walking to meet her friends outside, Ludwig can be an arrogant ass-wipe at times, but deep down he loves and cares for all his siblings, seeing as she is the only female, Ludwig tends to be very overprotective of her.

She smiles as she remembers this one time she brought a boy she met at the mall to the Castle, Ludwig gave him the most venomous look possible the whole day, it didn't help either that the other Koopalings decided to join in on the fun.

Roy and Morton cracked their necks and knuckles whenever he walked by, Larry pointed gun fingers at him and made shooting noises, Lemmy would draw very gruesome pictures of him dying and Iggy would just smile at him while sharpening a kitchen knife.

He would then say that something came up and left the Castle in a hurry, she would never see him again after that.

_Too bad though, he was really cute. _Wendy thought before leaving the building.

_**SEVERAL HOURS LATER...**_

After what felt like forever dancing and drinking, Wendy decided to leave as most of her friends were still partying, passed out, or left making out with another student.

While dancing, a guy began getting very pawsy with her, but a quick hard slap knocked him out very quickly. After one last shot she headed out of the bar and started going back to her dorm.

She may have drank way too much as she was fumbling wildly while walking, halfway there she would stop to catch her breath;

_Ugh… I .. don't .. feel .. so .. we-BLECH!_

Explosive vomit came out of her mouth in full force, as all the drinks she drank the past hours spilled out into the pavement. When she finished throwing up she realized that her legs and heels were covered in puke, that's when she also realized that a heel was missing.

_W-what w-w-wheres my heel?_

Her legs gave out as she collapsed on the puddle of her own spew;

_EW! EW! I don't *hiccup* think I can make it back._

She turned her head to the campus parking lot and saw a golf cart like vehicle with the ignition keys still attached, this gave Wendy a glorious idea as she started crawling to the vehicle.

_This will definitely *hiccup* take me back quicker…_

Soon she was on the cart getting ready to drive it all the way back to her dorm building, she turned the keys as the cart sputtered awake.

Wendy always wanted her own car, she would beg for Bowser to get her a nice slick Mercedes for her, but he would always deny her request , saying that her Koopa clown car and her personal airship was more than enough. She scoffed at the memory…

_And yet he has different vehicles and toys in his disposal… jerk…_

She shifted the handle to reverse as she looks behind her, careful not to hit anything… or anyone around.

_Just slow and steady Wendy… Just.. slow .. and-_

She couldn't finish that thought as she pushed too hard on the petal, the cart zooming backwards hitting the lamppost behind;

_OW! OW! My head…_

She would hear a cranking noise behind her, turning back, she saw the lamppost falling to the left, she could do nothing but watch in horror as the post was free-falling gradually, straight onto a -

_Wait!- is that a freeking tank!?_

Wendy watched in amazement as a sand camo colored mini tank the size of a regular car was parked to the left of her;

_How did I not see that before!? Heh… I guess I don't have to worry about the post destroying a-_

**KABOOOM!**

The impact of the lamppost was too much as the mini tank exploded into pieces, leaving behind just a ball of fire in its wake.

A sign would fall in front of Wendy, she looked at the writing and immediately felt like throwing up again.

PARKING SPACE PROPERTY OF:

DIANNA C. BONES

DIRECTOR AND PRESIDENT OF DARKLANDS UNIVERSITY OF MEDICINE

_I'm in so much trouble…_

_**IN DIANNA C. BONES OFFICE**_

Wendy shifted uncomfortably on the chair she was sitting on, a small band aid covered the head wound she had in her forehead, her one heel was still missing, the vomit that covered her body has now dried up and started reeking a putrid smell.

Wendy felt absolutely horrible, it also didn't help that someone was staring daggers at her.

Sitting in front of her, in her large wooden desk was none other than the Director and President Dianna C. Bones herself.

She was a dry bones with orange glowing eyes, she wore a white wig on her head, turquoise earrings and a blue blouse.

Her desk was filled with pictures, many showing herself with top army officials, like a much younger Kammy and Kamek, and what seems to be a black and white picture of her in normal koopa form, she was wearing an old koopa troop uniform and was sitting on top a familiar sand camo colored mini tank.

_Oh no, this got even worse…_

"Do you know why you're here Wendy?" She said in a very strict tone.

Wendy twiddled her fingers being careful of what she says, she was still kind of drunk.

"I- um destroyed your tank _*hiccup*_ miss." She was sweating raindrops as Dianna squinted her gaze even more.

"Why yes, my sand camo colored mini tank. The same tank that was given to my father by the Koopa Troop as a thank you for his military service during the early era of the Koopa Kingdom a millennium ago, the same tank that he would give to me when I signed up to join the Koopa Troop as a medic to protect the kingdom and the Royal family lineage, the same tank I used in battle to aid my fellow troopers when the Kingdom was falling apart, the same tank my old form would die by after managing to blow the enemies main defense line, ensuring a victory for our side. The same tank I would still use after I was revived into mere bones fighting countless invasions, civil wars and rebellions for centuries. The same tank I would keep and cherish as I retired from the Koopa Troop after many years of service and accepted the position of Director and President of this University, so I can teach the next generation of doctors, nurses, surgeons, EMTs, and tens of other medical positions as they become valuable and respected citizens of this great Kingdom that even after everything, is still standing, stronger than it's ever been and thriving every day. So yes Miss Wendy, the same tank that **you** destroyed." She said as she put a lot of emphasize in the last line of her speech.

Wendy could feel a headache starting to come as the problem got even more disastrous.

"F-first I would l-like to _*hiccup*_ thank you for your service and I'm really really sorry for what I've-" Dianna would speak up before Wendy finished her sentence.

"I'm expelling you from this University, end of discussion." She opened her drawer, took out some paperwork and started writing on it.

Wendy went in full panic mode as the Director's decision hit her like a freight train.

"Please Miss, don't _*hiccup*_ expel me please!" she pleaded, getting on her knees and begging her to change her mind.

Ms. Bones placed both hands on her desk as she looked down at Wendy, "Not only did you destroy my tank, you also caused property damage by hitting the lamppost while you were driving under the influence! You are very lucky that I don't contact the authorities about this!"

She then takes out Wendy's personal file from the cabinets behind her, she opens it and takes out the original application Wendy filled out.

"You labelled our Lord King Bowser here as your parent/guardian, I'm sure he will be very pleased to hear that you will no longer be a part of this University anymore." She took out her phone and started dialing the number written in the contact information.

However, Wendy grabbed onto her hand and arm, holding it tightly so she wouldn't complete the phone call.

Ms. Bones whole body bristled furiously as she tried to pull her arm away from her,

"LET ME GO RIGHT NOW YOUNG LADY BEFORE I ADD ASSAULT INTO YOUR RECORDS!" She threatened with a loud authoritative voice.

Wendy however, refused to listen as she vigorously shook her head, tears pouring out of her eyes.

"Please Miss don't do this! _*hiccup*_ I'm sorry I destroyed your tank, please let me stay here. I-I'll pay _*hiccup*_ you back, I'll pay everything back!" She begged.

Ms. Bones scoffed at her, "The tank was a priceless valuable, like hell you can pay that back."

An idea popped into Wendy's head, she continued pushing on it, "No for real _*hiccup*_ I can pay for them to make an exact replica of the one you had, and I'll even add another tank, any _*hiccup*_ tank you want on the market." She hoped that this would be enough to convince her to drop the expulsion.

Ms. Bones pondered on the idea,

_"Hmmm...Two... Tanks."_ she thought.

"So let's just say I accept your proposition, how exactly do you plan to pay for this?" A glimmer of hope would hit Wendy as Ms. Bones was contemplating on her offer.

"Um… oh...You can add it to my tuition and Lord _*hiccup*_ Bowser will pay it from there, I swear to you!"

Ms. Bones stood there as she thought over the offer, at the end, with a sigh, she relented.

"Okay Ms. Wendy I'll accept your proposal, I'll add the estimated amount for the damaged tank as well as a new one to your University bill, but I warn you that you have a time limit to pay it all back, if you don't pay the full amount by that day, I'll make sure you face serious charges, do I make myself clear?"

Wendy nodded her head and shook Dianna's hand furiously, "Thank You! Thank You! I promise _*hiccup*_ I'll pay on time!"

Ms. Bones pulled her hand away from her as she straightened her wig out,

"Duly noted, now go and get yourself cleaned up, my sense of smell may have been dead a long time but even I can smell you right now." She said as she started to put her file back where it belonged.

"Yes Miss Bones I promise you won't _*hiccup*_ regret this!" Wendy said before heading out the door.

"_I better not."_ Ms. Bones thought looking back.

While heading towards the female showers, Wendy would get a quick drink from the water fountain hoping that will clear her mind for a bit, she was feeling a lot better now as her hiccups stopped, she was still gonna feel the hangover tomorrow though.

On her way there she would see a tired Ludwig carrying a sleeping Junior in one arm will holding a bag of plushies and prizes in the other. Wendy smiled as she saw him walking towards her;

"So I'm guessing you two had fun?"

Ludwig smiled back and nodded his head as Wendy got a good look of the bags under his eyes, "He was an energetic little bastard even after the midterms, after riding many roller coasters and playing a lot of carnival games for hours, he finally fell asleep while we were on the Ferris wheel."

He dropped the bag on the floor and took out a cute poochie plush, "we both decided to save this one for you."

Ludwig's smile dropped as he got a good look of Wendy, "Holy shit Wendy, what happened?"

A look of concern and anger crept on his face , "Who did this to you!?"

Wendy raised both her hands up before Ludwig got the wrong idea, "Nobody did this to me Ludwig, I just drank too much and ended up slipping in my own vomit."

Ludwig seemed to have accepted her explanation as the concern and anger left his face.

"I'm going to the showers to get myself cleaned up, I'll meet you back in the dorm after you drop Junior by his, we'll all enjoy our weekend off tomorrow eating lunch together … Sounds good?" Wendy said calmly.

Ludwig looked down and shifted his feet, embarrassed from his little outburst, "Yeah, I'm sorry Wendy, I just wanted to make sure you're okay."

She smiled fondly and patted his arm, "Thank you for your concern but I assure you that everything is fine, totally fine."

She lied, she was definitely not gonna tell him or anyone else about the deal she made with the Director of the University.

"Well I'm off to drop Junior to his dorm and then I'm off to bed myself, The midterms were moderately challenging but oh how it was time consuming, anyway goodnight Wendy, I'll see you tomorrow." Ludwig said as he started walking away.

"Good night Luddy, see you tomorrow." she waved goodbye as she walked to the showers.

After making sure that every last drop of puke was removed from her body, she dries herself off and returned to her dorm where she saw Ludwig fast asleep in his bed, she quietly walked over to him and gave him a quick kiss on his forehead before heading to her bed on the opposite side.

Exhaustion overcame her as she drifted to sleep, happy that she wasn't expelled.

* * *

_**Back In Bowser's Throne Room**_

"So ... that's about it." Wendy concluded after explaining everything to Bowser, who was currently walking back and forth with his hands behind his back.

"So let me get this straight, you who is not even of legal age to drink, got drunk and drove a cart that managed to destroy an old tank owned by a veteran of the Koopa Troop, and made a deal with her stating that** I** will pay for her damages and expenses as well as for a new tank. Am I right in this Wendy?" He stopped pacing as he stared straight at her.

"... Yep."

In the flick of an eye, Bowser grabbed a hold of his stone brimmed throne and threw it with all his might at the wall, the throne shattered into pieces as he immediately started breathing fire to it, leaving nothing but ashes. Wendy was petrified as Bowser slowly towered over her;

"This is what's gonna happen Wendy, I'm gonna pay for the Tuition and fees, but the whole tank shit, you're on your own." he starts walking towards the door as Wendy was left there flabbergasted.

She immediately started running behind him, "But Dad, where the hell am I gonna get 900,000 gold coins from!?" Bowser stopped all of sudden as Wendy bumped into him and fell on her tail.

"That's Lord Bowser from now on until you pay off the whole debt, and the heck should I know where you'll get the money from, get a job or ask one of your brothers if they're generous enough to lend some money to you." He said while pointing a finger at her.

He then had a look of pain in his face, "I literally called you my daughter and this is what you do to me ... my mistake." He walked away leaving a heart-broken Wendy on the floor.

_"I really messed up this time, haven't I." _She thought solemnly

She slowly got up and started walking aimlessly forward not knowing what to do now, she looked back into what he said before;

"_**get a job or ask one of your brothers if they're generous enough to lend some money to you."**_

Wendy thought it over, it's worth a shot to ask her brothers for money, though the chance of them giving her 900 thousand gold coins was zero to none. With determination in her eyes she headed straight to her brother Larry, hoping the blue Mohawk kleptomaniac can help her out.

_**7 DAYS TILL DUE DATE**_

_**TOTAL AMOUNT OWED: 920,000 GC**_

_**AMOUNT EARNED: 20,000 GC **_

_** AMOUNT LEFT TO PAY: 900,000 GC**_

* * *

_**AUTHOR NOTES:**_

_**This chapter was a hassle but I'm happy with how it turned out.**_

_**The 20 Grand earned is from Wendy's bank account if anyone is wondering where the money came from.**_

_**The Mini Tank was inspired from the tank you can unlock in Mario Kart DS.**_

_**All criticism and reviews are welcome!**_

_**Original cover art is from shinygiratinas Tumblr.**_

_**Thank you for reading!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Sorry this took a while, but I present to you readers chapter 3.  
**_

_**There will be references to characters from the Mario & Luigi RPG games (Highly recommend to play them all as they are one of my favorite Mario games.) one from the classic Super Mario, one from the Paper Mario Series and one from Mario Odyssey.**_

_**If you're a big Koopalings fan, then you will enjoy this show in Youtube called "Bowser's Children" from Freezeflame22. Its an ongoing show with 4 seasons in its belt, I assure you guys will love it if you give it a chance.**_

_**I also want to apologize if there's some repetitiveness here and there, I try to make sure while I edit not to use a singular action/word too many times. (Rated T for language, alcohol use and mild sexual themes.)**_

_**EDIT: 1/31/20- Took the time to edit all 3 chapters. Chapter 4 (The Heist- part 1) is halfway done, hopefully it'll be done by next week.**_

* * *

Larry's bedroom was not that far from the throne room, it was located in the back right of the Castle, the room closest to the backyard.

As Wendy approached his baby blue colored door, she saw that it was slightly open, she knocked once before quietly entering.

She would see Larry sitting in a reclining swivel chair playing a game on his computer, wearing large headsets that probably made it impossible for him to hear her knock before. She walked slightly closer so she can get a better look at what he was playing, it looked like a first person shooter game with what seems to be zombified dry bones.

_Heh, a zombie game, Larry was always a sucker for those._

"Yo Koops, where the hell are you?! I need help outside the courtyard and bring shotgun ammo!" Larry yelled at the screen, frantic clicking can be heard from the keyboard and mouse.

"There's too many of them! Use your rocket launcher on them Jay!"

" … " muffling could be heard from the headset.

"The fuck you mean you ran out! You were stacked a round ago!"

Wendy rolled her eyes at her younger brother's rage, he picked up curse words not that long ago, most likely learning it from Roy who was known for yelling tons of profanities when furious.

She shifted her gaze and started looking around his room, it was very spacious as this once was a large storage space for weapons until a new headquarter was built in the army base far north of the Darklands. Larry would call dibs on the room, an upgrade from his old one that was half the size.

The walls were brimstone, with some posters of popular video game titles pasted on it. To her left was his personal bathroom as all of the Koopalings rooms had their own, to her right was his twin size bed with baby blue bed sheets and covers, with a large pillow that had blue star designs similar to the one on the side of his head, there was a small desk to the left of the bed and to the right was a storage closet filled with sports items like a tennis racket, a baseball bat, boxing gloves, and all types of sports balls.

Come to think of it, Larry's room was basically a storage room again, as every side and corner was filled with items that seemed brand new. Laptops, Flat Screens, Smart Phones, Consoles, Stereos, Shoes (he doesn't even wear shoes!), packs of snacks and beverages. He basically had a mini retail store here.

A loud smash jolted Wendy back to attention as she saw Larry furiously banging his keyboard, keys falling to the floor. He roughly sat back down on his chair as he tried to control his breathing, his screen displaying **"You Are Dead."**

After a half minute of inhaling and exhaling, he let out a sigh and put a hand on his head.

"I'm sorry guys, that was my fault … Let's start it from the top, let me just pick up my pieces."

He started picking up some pieces until he saw her in the corner of his eye, he let out a sound of disgust, "Ugh great, now I have to deal with this shit." he said while waving a hand in her direction.

Wendy frowned as she put her hands on her hips, "Watch your language Larry!" she scolded him.

Larry sticked his middle finger (or index finger seeing that he has only four fingers total) at her.

Wendy couldn't help but shake her head;

_Seriously Roy, What the hell are you teaching this kid!?_

" … " muffling could be heard again from Larry's mic.

" It's nothing dude, just my sister here is annoying me." Larry responded.

" … "

" You didn't know I had a sister? She's the bald one with the pink bow-tie on her head."

" … "

Larry would burst into laughter as tears were forming in his eyes, "You thought she was one of my brothers dressing up as a girl!? Hah, Damn Koops, can't believe you thought she was a cross dresser!"

He looked her way and smiled slyly at her, "and honestly I don't blame you."

Wendy's eye twitched as she was about to give this mohawk bastard a piece of her mind,

_Just you wait Larry, once you finish talking to your friends, I'll beat you black and blue._

" … " more muffling would be heard.

Larry's face shifted to confusion "Um… yeah.. She's older than me."

" … "

"The heck should I know if she's single or not Jay!"

Her cheeks turned red as the conversation was starting to get awkward and embarrassing, she stomped towards the power cord for the computer and roughly pulled it, shutting down everything.

Larry sat there flabbergasted and upset, "Really Wendy!? Did you come here just to be an annoying bit -" Wendy slapped him hard across the cheek as the sound of the slap echoed around the room, Larry put his hand on his cheek and gritted his teeth.

"First thing, you don't curse in front or at me, EVER! So whatever not so friendly words you have to say, say it when you're alone or when I'm not around!" she said before slapping him hard again across the other cheek, a whimper escaped his lips as the the second slap was more painful than the first.

"And second thing, say that I look like a cross dresser again, I DARE you! Cause the next time I catch you saying that I'll do worse then slap you, I'll literally stick my heel so far up your ass the medics will take days removing it! Do I make myself clear?!"

"FINE!" Larry screamed in her face as tears started leaking, he pushed her out of the way and went straight towards the side of his bed, he sat there as he was wiping his eyes in an attempt to stop the tears from falling.

"I hate you… So much." he muttered loud enough for Wendy to hear.

Wendy however wasn't hurt by those words, she smiled triumphantly at her sniveling little brother, knowing full well that she put him in his place and he won't be cursing or disrespecting her anytime soon. That smile was short lived as she remembered why she was here, she kicked herself as asking for his help would be a lot harder now.

_Slapping him not once but TWICE isn't really putting him in a friendly, helpful mood..._

Wendy sighed as she walked towards the bed and sat right beside him, she attempted to put her claw behind his head but Larry would slap it away, he stared angrily down, both his hands in fists.

"_Well that didn't work." _she thought to herself.

She decided to make a small conversation with him, an idea came up when she saw his monitor. "So that game was … intense huh?" she said, Larry still looked down, not saying a word.

"It seemed fun, what's it called?" she nudged a little closer to him.

Larry looked at her in the corner of his eye before looking back down and muttered something quietly.

Wendy nudged even closer till they were arm by arm, "What was that?"

"I said it was Rise of the Dry Bones 3, the Deluxe edition." he responded as he unclenched his fists.

Wendy smiled warmly as she saw he was starting to calm down a bit.

"Ooh, Deluxe edition, so they give you a lot of extra content?"

Larry shrugged, "Just two guns, a new map and in-game credits. Honestly the deluxe wasn't really worth it."

_So far so good…_

She decided to shift the conversation a bit, "So … who were your friends?"

"Jay and Koops, I met Koops online and we hit it off from there, he's from Petalburg." Larry would sit straight, tears no longer dripping from his eyes, " and Jay is one of those freerunning koopa troopas, I bumped into him when he challenged me to a race, FYI I won, he then congratulated me and asked if I was into video games. We exchanged usernames and been playing together frequently ever since."

_"Koops? Freerunning Koopa?"_ Wendy thought for a moment.

"Wait, aren't those two like buddy buddies with Mario?" she asked him.

Larry shrugged again, "They maybe in different sides, but we're still koopas in the end."

Wendy nodded in understanding, in Darklands society, Koopas who leave the Kingdom or are allies to Mario or the toads were considered as "traitors", mostly by the older generation or those who worship the kingdom and the royal family immensely. But the younger ones like Wendy and the rest of her brothers tended to be more accepting to their decisions, the Darklands isn't for everyone and not everyone wants to live by a tyrannical monarchy.

She remembers this one time they were sent on this mission to retrieve the whereabouts of two koopa troopas who didn't show up to the Kingdoms mandatory Koopa Troop recruitment orientation. After falling to Mario multiple times, Bowser would enact a law that made it mandatory to join the Koopa Troop once a citizen reaches a certain age. He wanted to fill his army with young blood and large numbers of recruits so they can be used as an advantage whenever he kidnaps the princess as Mario would waste energy and time fighting his minions.

They would arrive in a small village in the outskirts of the Kingdom as it was rumored they lived in a small cabin there, once they reached the worn down wooden home the Koopalings readied their wands and barged into it. Morton would tackle one who was trying to run to the back and Larry would find the second one hiding under the floorboards. Seeing that they completed their task they began to leave, dragging the scared and sobbing troopas along the way.

But before they could reach the door, the troopas mother would come out of nowhere and grabbed her two children in a death grip, trying to tug them away from the Koopalings grasp as she begged them not to take them away. They began to pry her away until she said the following;

"Please! I already lost one! I don't want to lose two more!"

They released their grip from her and her two children after that statement. While holding her kids tightly she would explain that she had an older son who passed away many years ago after the Castle he was deployed in was blown up by Mario. Back then, Mario was young and naive, his main focus was to save the Princess no matter what cost, this lead to many accidental casualties for the Koopa Troop. As Mario grew older and matured he saw the mistakes he made, and began to either run past or slightly injure those who tried to stop him from saving the princess from the clutches of Bowser, trying his best not to accidentally kill another living being again.

However, the damage was done. Mario became a very hated figure in the Darklands, hence why those who befriend or talk positively about him were frowned upon.

The mother's eldest son could've been revived as a dry bones, but his bones were either cracked, burned to ash or missing in the rubble, he was considered 'unsavable' by the top magikoopas. Seeing that she won't see her son anymore she took what remained of his body and buried him in a hill not far from the cabin. She began to weep after retelling the story, holding her two children even closer to her.

The Koopalings couldn't help but shed tears of their own as they watched the family cry together.

Wendy got a good look of the two troopas when the two looked at them, they were fraternal twins, roughly Wendy's age, both with red shells like their mothers. They looked alike but were distinguished as the girl twin was wearing some eye shadow and make up.

They all began to comfort the family, Roy and Ludwig would comfort the mother by giving her tea and offering their condolences for her fallen son, Morton would give the boy twin a sandwich that he had on him as Larry would ask what movies or games he liked. Wendy headed to the girl twin hoping that she would be able to relax the frightened koopa, Iggy would come with Wendy, but after seeing the girl become scared when she saw him he decided to wait outside so he wouldn't bother her, Lemmy following closely behind.

Wendy was surprised on how much stuff they had in common, they liked going on social media, liked the same music, crushed on the same celebrities, liked the same clothing lines and makeup, they would later add each other on instagoomba.

After a quick group meeting, the Koopalings decided they would aid the family in escaping the Darklands, they all agreed that Sarasaland would be a good place for the family to start a new life. They waited till the family packed all their belongings to begin burning down the cabin, leaving no trace behind. They allowed the mother to say one last goodbye to her dead son before heading to a hidden pipe that Larry knew about which would send the family straight to the Kingdom.

Once they got to the pipe, the family would exchange hugs and handshakes as the mother thanked the Koopalings for their help and generosity before jumping into the pipe. The Koopalings had their infamous motto of "we like being mean.", but it felt nice to help others sometimes.

They reported back to Bowser and Kamek, stating that the rumored cabin was nowhere to be found and the whereabouts of the two troopas were unknown, though both Bowser and Kamek were upset that they couldn't apprehend the troopas, they would just write the mission off as a lost cause. Months later, Bowser would dismantle the law as it didn't yield any positive results in slowing down or defeating Mario.

Wendy is still friends with the girl in instagoomba, she's very happy to see her enjoying her family's new life in Sarasaland based on the joyful photos she posts.

She noticed a hand being waved in her face as she was brought back to earth, sitting in Larry's bed after replaying the memory.

"I'm sorry did you say something?" she asked Larry, he looked a bit annoyed from having to repeat himself.

"I asked you, Why are you here?"

Wendy pondered for a moment, she wondered if it were a good idea to just ask him straight forward that she needs to borrow money.

_It's better to be honest._

"Honestly Larry, I'm in a serious pickle here."

This got Larry curious, "What kind of pickle?"

"Remember when I went to medical school in order to become a doctor, well… the bill came in and I need 900 thousand gold coins by next week."

Larry's mouth opened wide in shock, "900 Thousand!? What did you do Wendy!? Destroyed a lab or something!?"

Wendy rubbed her forehead, "I accidentally destroyed the University Director's mini tank."

He gave her an incredulous look, "Did you just say a mini tank?"

She nodded her head, "Yeah, turns out she was a long time veteran of the Koopa Troop, I offered her to pay to make an exact replica of it and even added any choice of Tank that was available off the market to the bill and well, now I owe 900 grand and it's all due by next week."

Larry was not sure how to respond, he did feel bad for her knowing that she might not be able to pay it all off in time.

_Unless … He invites her to the- Wait … Nah._

He shook the thought off his head as he dryly responded to her, "Welp, feels bad man."

Wendy noticed his tone, "Um… yeah, I just wanted to know… If... I don't know… you had 900 grand to spare?"

The outrageous request made Larry chuckle, "Heh, that's real funny Sis, I don't know what made you think I had that much money."

She stood up and pointed out all the brand new stuff that surrounded his room, "You literally have a whole store here of brand new electronics, food and drinks. I'm pretty sure you needed a good amount of money to buy all this stuff."

"And who said I paid for any of this." he said with a cocky grin as he lifted his leg over the other.

_Great, now he's copying Ludwig…_

She crossed her arms as her assumptions turned out to be true, "Let me guess, you stole it."

"Ding!Ding!Ding! We have a winner here folks!" he said while he was pretending to hold a microphone.

"Please give a round of applause to the O so smart Wendy O. Koopa!" he stood up mockingly clapping at her. After 10 seconds he stopped and went back to picking up the rest of the keys dropped on the floor.

"Take notes Sis, why pay for something when you can take it for free?" After picking up the last key and putting it back on the keyboard he would turn to her,

"You see, whenever something new comes out that I want, I would steal multiple amounts of it. I would take one for myself and the others I would sell it online for a decent price and BOOM, profit." He sat back in his swivel chair and started playing with a gold coin, flicking it from one hand to the other.

"It's a decent business, but not one where I'm basically a millionaire." He flicked the coin straight at Wendy, she caught it without even flinching.

"Huh, Nice catch. You know what, seeing that you're in desperate need of some mulah I'll let you keep the coin. I know, I know, how generous of me." He re-plugged the power cord and turned on his PC.

"Now, seeing that I don't have 900 thousand gold coins on me and have no way of making that much in one day, I would appreciate that you leave my room and go ask someone else to help you with your problem, and with that, I bid you … Adieu." He would put his headset back on his head as he started to launch his game.

Wendy however didn't budge an inch, something was off and she was pretty sure Larry was hiding something from her.

_You ain't getting rid of me that easy you little shit._

She marched towards the PC and pulled the power cord, shutting everything down again.

Larry took out his headset and tossed it on the desk, "Come on Wendy! Can you just leave me alone!"

She ignored him as she walked towards him putting her hands on the arm rest, glaring down at him intently. Larry tried to inch back in his chair as much as he could,

"Um… what are you doing? N-Now Wendy I know that many see me as a treat but you're my Sister."

Wendy still stared at him, "You're lying to me Larry."

Larry was now really confused, "W-What? No seriously Wendy I don't like you in that way."

"Not that you Idiot! I was talking about the part where you said that you had no way of making 900 grand in one day! I know for a fact that's not true, now tell me, what are you planning?!" She demanded as she let go of the arm rest.

Larry sat a little straighter now that she wasn't on his face;

_Shit … How did she know?_

"I … have no idea what you're talking about." His eyes flicked left and right, Wendy noticed that immediately;

"You know for someone who lies a lot you're really bad at hiding it."

"Wendy I swear I'm not planning anything!" he pleaded. She was starting to lose her patience, so she decided to take out the big guns,

_So you want to play dumb… fine... have it your way…_

She gave him a sly smirk, "Okay Larry, seeing that you won't tell me the truth, I'm gonna have to tell Lord Bowser about the things you've been stealing."

It was then Larry's turn to smirk, "Pfft, Is that supposed to scare me? Lord Bowser would be proud of me knowing I'm making my own profit from stealing other people's stuff."

"Oh you're right! How silly of me to think he would be angry at you for stealing someone's stuff, Unless that someone was him." Her smirk grew wider as she saw Larry become really nervous, she headed to where the PC was placed and pulled an object hidden by the side of it, Larry's eyes bulged out as he realized what it was.

Wendy was holding an adult magazine labeled "Lovely Princesses Triple X", the cover showed a very seductive blonde woman that kinda looked like Princess Peach, lying on a bed looking back, fully nude with only a crown on her head, showing her rear end for the reader to fully see.

"Aw, my little brother Larry is all grown up now, though I wonder how Lord Bowser's favorite magazine which has been missing for weeks would coincidentally be found in your room. From what I recall, he wasn't very happy and was certain it was stolen, he said that whoever he found out was the thief would be punished so severely that they would beg for mercy." Larry was sweating bullets as Wendy rolled the magazine and started slightly tapping it on her chin.

"Hmm, I do wonder what kind of punishment he would give to a little kleptomaniac I know, maybe go the classic route and give him some good hard spankings, maybe he would flatten the poor fellow with a thwomp, A few good whips with a metal chain wouldn't hurt or if he's really angry he might throw him into the lava." Larry was literally shaking as he was absolutely terrified with any of those ideas, he tried to think of any way to get out of this situation but realized he was completely trapped.

_Guess she won this round …_

He sighed heavily as he admitted defeat, "Okay! Okay! … You win."

Wendy pumped her fist in the air, seeing that she outsmarted him. Larry got up from his chair and went to lock his door, after making sure no one was eavesdropping outside he closed it and locked it tight. He walked back to Wendy and snatched the magazine from her hand,

"Just to be clear, this thing I'm planning is only between me, a few others and you. No one else, OK." He crouched under his bed and pulled out a large rolled up blueprint, he put it on top and waved Wendy to get closer.

"Before we start, I would like to ask you some things, just so I can get a hunch of what you already know." Wendy nodded as he asked his first question;

"First, do you know of the stealth operation I just started? Well this is suppose to be the big test and if everything goes well, Kamek and Kammy might approve for it to be a vital part of the Koopa Troop in the near future."

Wendy nodded her head as she knows of his little stealth group,

Larry created a team that specialized in stealth tactics, it was pretty small as it consisted of only him and three other minions, Sergeant Guy, Corporal Paraplonk and Captain Boo. Even for the small size the stealth group had great potential in aiding the Koopa Troop.

"Second thing, Do you know of a big ugly old frog by the name of Wart?" Larry asked.

Wendy recoiled at his name, Wart was the King of the Subcon region, also known as the 'World of Dreams', from somewhere that sounded so nice he was the complete opposite. He was a ruthless dictator that tortures and executes any of his citizens that criticizes either him or on how he runs the kingdom, his war crimes and torture methods were so appalling that he made Bowser look like a saint. It didn't help that he was also a creep that has a thing for her.

She recalls this one time he was invited to the Castle, as Bowser attempted to reach a deal with him on a disputed mountain range that was rumored to have gold and Oil inside. Wart seemed uninterested in reaching a deal with Bowser until he saw her, he practically drooled at seeing the young koopaling.

The whole day was uncomfortable for Wendy as she felt that whenever he was behind her, he would stare intently at her rear and tried to get a good angle to get a better view. He attempted to talk and get close to her whenever he got the chance, luckily Lemmy noticed this and started distracting him by showing his circus moves while she made her escape.

At the end of the day, he would offer Bowser full control of the mountain range, he just asked for one thing in return,_** her**_. From what she heard, Bowser would politely decline his request, by punching him hard on the face. No deal was made that day as the mountain range is basically a war zone now, neither side getting even a foot of territory.

She would head to Bowser and thank him for not giving her up, he responded with something that stuck with Wendy ever since,

"I'm not gonna give up my little princess to any fool." She was grateful that she had such an amazing King/Dad.

Larry noticed the slight twitch she made after saying his name, "Based on your reaction, you and me both know that this dude is just bad news, which is why you will love what I have planned."

He unrolled the blueprint, revealing what seems to be the interior of a large Casino, and not just any Casino;

"Mount Wario's Casino?" she repeated the letters written in bold, "But what does Wario's own Casino have to do with Wart?"

"I'm glad you asked, you see every second Friday night of every month which is today, top royals like Wart, King Bomb-omb, King Boo and Queen Bean would all gather to have friendly matches of Poker, Blackjack, Roulette, you get the gist, in this very Casino. Each one of these guys would bring large amounts of money with them to bet on, with Wart being the one that brings the most."

"How much money are we talking here?" she asked.

Larry laughed mischievously, rubbing his hands together, "2 Million Gold coins."

Wendy stood there slack jawed with the total amount, "Woah, that amount can pay out my debt twice."

She looked back at the blueprint, "so how are we gonna do this?"

Larry began to slowly explain the plan, "When the royals bring their money to the casino, it would be stored in the top floor where they have small personal vaults made of titanium, the only way to open it is with a key or as of now an electric key-"

Larry pointed at the right of the blueprint, "A couple months ago, Wario had the _brilliant_ idea of modernizing his Casino with state of the art cybersecurity, he replaced the titanium vaults physical locks with technologically advanced ones that can be open through an electronic key that is linked to their personal smartphones."

He took out his own smartphone and opened an app that showed a WiFi signal on the screen, "Our dear geeky brother Iggy downloaded a private app into my phone that can take another smartphones personal ID if the signal is fairly close. For example, if my phone is close enough to Wart's, in a matter of minutes it can download all of his data and will allow me to open his personal vault because the machine will read my phone as his own."

He pointed to the bottom left, where 3 names were written, "These three are the crew I'm rolling with for this heist, you already know who they are as you worked with them sometimes. Corporal Paraplonk will be our pilot and getaway driver, Sergeant Guy has already been working there for weeks under a fake name and has earned the promotion of being the guy that walks around with the champagne and wine cart that serves drinks to the guests, he will be the one to have my phone at the start. And the last guy is Captain Boo, he will be rolling with me."

"So what's my part in this?" Wendy questioned.

"I'm getting to that." Larry flipped the blueprint around showing amateur drawings of the step by step plan, he took out a white sharpie and started editing it by adding poorly drawn Wendy's throughout some steps,

"So the **new** plan is to first take our most silent airship and drop you off discreetly near the casino, once you reach the front you'll give me a call through this ultra mini earpiece-" he pulled out a tiny Ziploc bag from his desk and took out small devices half the size of her fingertips.

"When you see that nobody is around, that's when me and Boo will skydive to the roof of the casino, the airship will be stationed far on top above the snow clouds where no one can see it. We then initiate phase one, you will go into the Casino and stick to the slot machines to the right as the 4 royals will be playing to the far left, Sergeant Guy is already there since he took the night shift tonight, he will head towards them once I give the signal."

Larry walked towards an open pack of sports drinks and took out two, he returned offering one to Wendy, who thanked him for it, they took a quick sip before Larry continued;

"When I get the word that you're inside I'll begin to go through the roof vent and place a jammer to disable all the cameras and alarms, once I'm on top of the surveillance room, Captain Boo will go through the ceiling and knock out the security officer before he can warn anybody of the disabled cameras. The small vaults are located outside to the right of the room, closed off by metal bars. There will be two other security officers standing by it, I'll take down one by hitting them with a knockout spell from my wand and Captain Boo will posses the other until he has full control of his body, he will use the officer's card to open the metal bars and stand guard in case anyone comes by or tries to communicate via the walkie talkie."

He looked back at Wendy to see if she was following, with a nod of her head he continued,

"With all the main guards in the top floor down we can initiate phase 3 which involves Sergeant Guy and now you, before he goes to Wart's table he will turn on the app on my phone and hide it under one of the bottles, he will place the cart by Wart so the signal is close enough to his phone, he will take his time serving the royals until the data is fully downloaded and head towards you by the slot machines, there he will serve you a drink while handing you the phone as well, once you retrieve it you will head towards the ladies bathroom and jump through the vent on the far corner once you see that it's clear. Just keep heading straight until you see an open hatch, that's the vent to the surveillance room, you will stay on top and toss my phone down to me."

Wendy watched Larry drink the last of the sports drink in one gulp, he let out a loud burp,

"Ah, that hit the spot. Anyway back to what I was saying, I will take the phone and open the vault where large sacks of Warts gold coins awaits. Little by little, me and Boo will drag the sacks to the surveillance room, once the last sack is brought there we will put the knocked out security officers inside the small vault and close it along with the metal bars as well, making it look like no one ever broke in. One by one we will toss you the sacks as you begin taking them to the roof, we have a time limit because their game is not gonna last forever so we better be quick. Once all the sacks are on the roof we signal Corporal Paraplonk to drop a very large basket where we'll put the sacks in as well as the three of us, when the coast is clear he will hoist us up to the airship and we fly away. The mission a success, two million coins rich and it was like we were never there."

Larry fully turned to Wendy and spread his arms before quickly putting it down, "So that's about it, oh and don't worry about Sergeant Guy, he will still work there for a couple more weeks before he quits so they don't suspect anything about him."

He re-rolls the blueprint and puts it back under his bed, "This will go down tonight, so any questions and concerns you have you can tell me now."

She looked back on his plan, she was quite impressed on how much planning was put into this and on how fast Larry changed it to accommodate her.

_This might just work …_

But there was one concern that bothered her, "I have one thing, What if someone notices me tonight? Wouldn't I be a primary suspect of 2 million stolen gold coins?"

Larry dismissed her concern, "Hard to accuse someone of a crime without any evidence, plus this is a luxury Casino, there will be a lot of powerful and shady people there that would be suspects as well. If you just stick to the right and not bring any attention to yourself you'll be fine."

Wendy relaxed with his assurance, however another concern popped up;

"What if Wario or Waluigi is there?"

"Doubt it, Wario and Waluigi usually leave the place at 8, the dude they put in charge spends the night on the main floor gambling his salary away." She nodded at this, as all her concern was absolved.

"Ok then, I'm ready."

Larry clasped his hands together, "Great! So this will be the cut, you'll get the full 900 grand while everyone else gets the rest. Deal?" He lifted his hand ready for a handshake.

Wendy was about to agree, until a greedy part of her head told her to try to bump it up to 50/50, she could do a lot of things with the extra money…

_Maybe get that Mercedes I wanted …_

She gushed at the idea, so she made a counter offer, "How about 50/50 and I'll frame Roy for the stolen magazine?"

Larry would think the offer over, while losing an extra hundred thousand would suck he was pretty intrigued with the entertainment Wendy offered.

_Watching Roy get his ass beat by Bowser is totally worth 100 grand _…

With a wide smile he accepted her counter offer, "You got yourself a deal!"

They both shook hands as they begin to prepare for the big heist.

* * *

_**Author Notes:**_

_**The next chapter is expected to be a long one, so what I might do is split it into three parts so the story is updated more quicker.**_

_**I hope you enjoyed the references to certain characters:**_

_**Koops (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door)- Immediately fell in love with his design when I first saw him. His light-blue hoodie, blue pants, white shoes and the bandage on his nose made him adorable.**_

_**Freerunning Koopa (Mario Odyssey)- The Koopa's you see when you do the racing minigame, The caps on their heads gave them somewhat of a 'swagger' look.**_

_**Corporal Paraplonk and Sergeant Guy (Mario & Luigi RPG)- Group of minions that deserves more love, both are part of 'The Elite Trio', for those who are saddened that the third member Private Goomp is nowhere to be found, worry not, I assure you he will appear later in the story.**_

_**Captain Boo (Mario & Luigi RPG)- I needed a Boo that wasn't King Boo or an ally of his, Captain Boo was the first one that came to mind.**_

_**Wart (Super Mario 2, Super Mario Advance)- In this story, Wart was successful in conquering Subcon, thus making him a powerful and intimidating antagonist for the Koopalings and Bowser.**_

_**A shout out to C. MechaYoshi for her thoughtful reviews, I will continue to try my best in putting paragraph breaks when different characters speak, though I may miss some here and there, I will do my very best in fixing it. **_

_**All criticism and reviews are welcome!**_

_**Original cover art is from shinygiratinas Tumblr.**_

_**Thank you for reading!**_


	4. The Heist - Part 1

_**I present to you readers part 1 of The Heist. The chapter has been divided into three parts, so expect part 2 and 3 in the near (not that close) future.**_

_**_**(Rated T for language, alcohol use and mild sexual themes.)**_**_

_**_**WARNING: In the middle of this chapter, there will be an implied rape/sexual assault moment so I wholeheartedly apologize to those who feel uncomfortable or if it triggers a bad memory. (Viewer discretion advised.)**_**_

* * *

Wendy knows that Larry doesn't want her to draw any attention, mainly when they're trying to rob a cruel dictator's two million gold coins in a luxury Casino. But hey, if she's doing a heist, she might as well do it with a little style.

She replaces her red pearl necklace with a pure white one, it isn't that big of a change but it felt "luxurious" enough of a difference. She admired herself in her personal mirror for a bit before receiving a text from Larry;

_**ChEATSy_Koopa: itz time, meet us by the underground airshp port.**_

_**Bald_Beauty: Coming!**_

Most of the airships were stored in an underground base, a mile south from the Castle, the distance is an inconvenience but it beats leaving the airships above ground. Heavy rain and winds are a common occurrence in the Darklands, so the airships left outside were usually blown to each other leaving heavy damages. Rust and mold can build up as well if they're left out for a long time.

The problem fed up Iggy a lot that he demanded Bowser to build an underground base with a retractable roof. Bowser hated being told what to do, but Iggy was the main mechanic of the Koopa Troop, his mechanical engineering skills were top of the line as he was the one that built most of the airships used today. Bowser's main airship, the Koopalings and Junior's specially designed ones, that was all him and his working crew.

She remembered when Bowser, Junior, her, the rest of the Koopalings (minus Iggy) plus Kammy and Kamek were all eating dinner together at the dining room, they were all enjoying a good meal until Iggy barged in with his workers, he jumped on top of the table and pointed at Bowser telling him that if he doesn't build the underground base, improve working conditions and raise the wages of his workers by next week, then he will halt all production and services of the airships and other mechanical and technological utilities, they will boycott till his demands were met.

Everyone's mouth opened in shock, even Iggy's workers were completely dumbfounded, this was basically treason.

Bowser stood up and dug his claws on the table, looking ready to pounce on Iggy at any second. Everyone took a step back as Bowser and Iggy stared venomously at each other, Bowser's rage and fury was infamous but everyone was more worried about Iggy, he rarely got upset let alone furious, he was basically unpredictable at this point.

What Bowser said next however, would make their mouths drop to the ground.

With a tired sigh he responded, "As you wish Iggy."

5 days later, the Base was completed, working conditions greatly improved and the workers wages were raised by 40 percent.

Wendy can't really explain it, but there always seems to be this tension between Iggy and Bowser. Don't get her wrong, Bowser cares for Iggy, and Iggy respects Bowser deeply, but it looks as if they don't trust each other.

Whenever they both speak to each other, which is rare itself since Iggy is the one he talks the least too, there is always this slight second of guilt that comes across Bowser's face.

She asked Kamek about this, but the only thing he said was that Lord Bowser back in the day was quite ignorant, far less understanding then he is today, he said that one of those ignorant decisions he made is the reason Iggy is the way he is. He wouldn't elaborate more after that.

She shook those thoughts as she started heading to the elevator and take it below ground, since the base was a mile away there usually was motorbikes stored next to the elevator below that can be used to drive all the way there.

As Wendy got out of the elevator she took one of the motorbikes and drove it to the main base entrance, the ride taking less than five minutes. As she approached the entrance to the Base she would spot Larry, Captain Boo and Corporal Paraplonk there waiting for her.

She parked the vehicle by the left of the entrance and walked towards the group. Larry looked the same, holding his personal wand in his hand. Boo usually has a flag placed on top of his head, but seeing that stealth was a main factor in the heist, he decided to remove it.

Corporal Paraplonk was hovering by Larry's right, the red paratroopa was wearing green shoes and a red bucket over his head. They all smiled as she approached them,

"Always running late as expected big sis, those white pearls holding you down?" Larry playfully says after seeing her necklace.

"Har Har, If we're doing a heist might as well do it while looking good." She said as she did a quick twirl.

Captain Boo chuckled a little when she finished twirling, "It's an honor to work by your side Mistress Wendy."

"Yeah Miss Wendy! I for one am very honored to be by such raw beauty and perfection." Corporal Paraplonk said as he rubbed the back of his head, his cheeks flushing red.

Captain Boo rolled his eyes at his friends display while Larry looked at him like he was insane, Wendy folded her arms and grinned at the blushing Corporal's compliment.

_Looks like we have a charmer here… _

She walked towards him and gave him a pat on the shoulder, "Aw, that's very sweet of you Corporal, you've just made my whole day, and what better way to honor that than with a small reward." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek as she headed inside.

Corporal Paraplonk's eyes rolled back after the kiss and began flying around as if he were intoxicated. Larry and Captain Boo gave him incredulous looks as you can see hearts popping around his head. Wendy couldn't help but giggle at the drunken in love minion.

_Yep, this girl still got it… _

Once she passed the main entrance, she marveled at the sight in front of her, the airship base was a massive cave that spread for miles, dozens of different airships were floating around.

She would get close to the edge of the port and looked down at the never-ending pit below, out of curiosity, she took a wooden plank she found on the floor and threw it down seeing if it would make a sound. The plank would disappear into the darkness as no sound would ever emit. Wendy wondered how deep the pit was or if it even had an end.

_It would suck to fall down there… _

All of a sudden, arms wrapped around her torso and lifted her up, she let out a loud shriek as she was being held above the abyss, she wiggled her legs as she looked down at the deep dark chasm.

"DON'T DROP ME, PLEASE DON'T DROP ME!" she screamed at the unknown assailant behind her.

Whoever it was that was holding her turned around, dropped her on the floor and began laughing hysterically. Wendy crawled away till she was a safe distance from the edge, she looked back at the assailant having a good idea of who it was based on the laughter.

_For Koopa sake, why are you here!?_

"THAT WASN'T FUNNY IGGY!" She yelled as Iggy was holding his stomach, cackling loudly.

She would hear Larry and the other two laugh with him, she turned around and stared daggers at them.

Captain Boo and Corporal Paraplonk immediately ceased their laughter, Larry however was still snickering, he walked up to Iggy and gave him a high five after the stunt he pulled.

"Aye, Nice one bro! Did you hear that shriek she made, man I wish I recorded that!" Larry said as he gave Iggy a slap on the shell.

Iggy would breathe a bit before replying, "You know me, When she was looking down I had to take advantage of the opportunity!"

Wendy felt a vein throbbing in her head as her idiot brothers were laughing at her, she was still trying to figure out why the pineapple headed one was here in the first place.

"Dammit Iggy, What are you doing here!?" she said, waiting impatiently for an answer.

Iggy gave her a large toothy smile, "Why Sis, if you're gonna need a silent airship for the heist, you'll need to have someone make one for you." He pressed a button from a remote he had, a large coal-colored airship would appear by the edge of the port.

"I present to you the Ghost Ship! With a very powerful yet quiet engine, a camo force-field that would make this ship invisible to radars and the naked eye! And the most important component, decent AC ventilation's."

"Oh thank goodness." Corporal Paraplonk mumbled quietly.

Iggy turned back at them, hands behind his back as he excitedly waited for their opinion, "So what do you guys think?"

"You did an amazing job Master Iggy!" Captain Boo was the first to respond.

Corporal Paraplonk followed suit, "Yeah Master Iggy! The new airship is awesome!"

Larry walked up closer to the airship and admired the sheer size of it, for how big it was there was absolutely no engine sound coming out, the only noise it made was the slight wooden creaks as the airship was tilting left and right. He lets out a whistle before giving Iggy a positive reception,

"Don't know how you do it bro, but you definitely outdid yourself with this bad boy and in only three days, now that's amazing."

He placed a hand on Iggy's shoulder, "Thanks Iggy, I really appreciate the help you gave me. We're all very lucky to have you around."

Iggy couldn't help but beam at his younger brothers words of encouragement, he turned to Wendy as she stood up and dusted herself off after crawling on the floor before, she didn't look all too happy at him.

He nervously smiled at her before looking down and tapping his fingers,

"If it makes you feel any better, I just wanna say that I'm sorry for scaring you like that, I intended for it to be a joke but it was still immature of me to do that to you… Would you forgive me Wendy?" He sheepishly asked while giving her baby eyes.

Wendy desperately wanted to give him a piece of her mind, but after the airship reveal, the positive reception he got, plus the baby eyes, she decided against it.

With a sigh, she accepted his apology, "It's fine Iggy, just don't ever do that again! … As for the airship, great work as usual."

Iggy gave a large smile, showing all his fangs, he pumped his fist as everyone approved of his work, "I knew you guys would love it!"

He then pressed another button on the remote, the airship would drop a bit so the deck was at the same level as the port, he put a wooden plank in between so they could walk on the ship. "Now you guys have a long trip ahead of you so I won't waste anymore time, hop aboard!"

Corporal Paraplonk would go first as he headed straight towards the poop deck where the steering wheel was located at, Captain Boo floated towards the lower cabins, looking to see the size of the inside.

Before Larry hopped on, he gave Iggy a quick bro hug while telling him something;

"Thanks again for this Iggy, I'll see you after the heist and give you your cut. Though it might be short cause Wendy is getting half of it."

Iggy gave him a perplexed look, "Half!? Why!?"

"It's a long story, but she threatened to tell Bowser that I had his favorite erotic magazine."

Iggy couldn't help but laugh, "Bwahahaha! I knew you were the one that took it! Aw, shucks bro that sucks, I wanted to know what was inside. So… how was the magazine?"

Larry shrugged, "Let's just say that I finally realize the real reason why Bowser kidnaps Peach all the time." he gave a small wink to Iggy following that statement.

Wendy rolled her eyes at the two deviants, she snapped her fingers to get their attention, "If you two perverts can hurry it up so we can get a move on, I would greatly appreciate it."

Deciding not to test her again, Larry gave Iggy a quick bro fist before jumping on board the airship, going straight to the captain's quarters.

Iggy looked back to see Wendy walking towards the airship before stopping in front of him, they both stood there awkwardly as they had no idea what to say to each other.

After a long pause, Wendy would be the first one to speak, "Look, I know you're a bit upset at me for taking half of the profit but I need the money desperately, I have until next week to pay off my Medical school debt and if I don't pay it by then, I could be in serious trouble with the law."

Wendy hoped Iggy would understand where she's coming from, looking at Iggy, it didn't seem to bother him that much;

"It's alright Wendy, maybe I'll get paid better in the next heist."

He gave her a small smirk, "Though I still can't believe you actually managed to pass and get your PhD."

"What? Upset that I blew away your_ "calculated"_ expectations?" She playfully said. "Or is it the fact that Lord Bowser sent me instead of you? Don't take this harshly, but I don't think a lot of people would feel safe with you using _certain_ medical equipment."

He chuckled, "Hehe, don't be too sure Wendy, word around the Castle is that Bowser is considering sending me, Roy and Larry to the University by next semester."

She scoffed at the rumors, "They might as well just give a PhD to Lemmy and Morton as well."

"You've probably just jinxed it." he quipped.

They both laughed at the small joke for a bit, enjoying the nice, rare, sibling moment between the both of them… that is until Iggy ruined it.

His eyes went wide after realizing something, "OH! Since you're officially a certified doctor now, I wanna ask if you can help me out with something."

He proceeded to scratch his groin area, "You see, I've been having this annoying itch on my scrotum and I was hoping you can check it ou-"

She frantically shook her head at Iggy's request, "N-Nope, sorry but yo-you're gonna have to ask Ludwig for that."

Iggy was amused at her reaction, "Chill out Wendy, it's just my dick and balls, seeing that you're a doctor, you should already know what dick and balls should look like."

This conversation was getting too weird and uncomfortable for Wendy, she started to get on board the airship;

"Well I don't wanna be late so I'm gonna go!" she quickly said as she hopped aboard.

Iggy guffawed uncontrollably as he saw his sister dash away from him, "Bwahahaha! Don't worry! I'll make sure to book an appointment soon! I'll see you later Doctor Wendy!"

Wendy barely heard what he said as she rapidly went inside the airship, she was moving too fast that she ran straight through Captain Boo who was turning the corner, if it weren't for the fact that he was a ghost, there would've been a nasty collision.

He raised an eyebrow at her, she sheepishly said a quick sorry before she kept moving down the hallway, once she was a good distance away, she looked back at her conversation with Iggy;

_Ugh, the conversation was going well, why did he have to make it so weird?_

She'll never understand Iggy, but his strange habits and manners made him _"unique"_ as Kamek would usually say.

Her thoughts were interrupted as a rumble was felt throughout the ship, she would hear a couple of beeping sounds from the intercom above her, an announcement began playing-

"Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, I Corporal Paraplonk will be your pilot for tonight, we are now taking off from Darklands Underground Base en route to Mount Wario's Casino, travel time will be an estimated three hours, current weather in the Darklands is partly cloudy with winds blowing at about 13 mph east, current temperature is a humid 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius), however expect the temperature to lower below freezing as we near our destination."

Wendy held onto the wall as the airship started taking off, she slowly walked towards a nearby window and looked outside as the retractable roof began opening, leaking the glow of the night sky. She looked down and saw Iggy waving goodbye to them, slowly shrinking as the airship gained altitude, she waved back at him but doubted he could see her.

The airship soon floated above ground as the retractable roof closed shut, she would catch a glimpse of the Castle before it disappeared once the airship started going the opposite way.

She would hear the intercom beep a couple of times again as Corporal Paraplonk continued with his announcements-

"Fellow passengers we are now on our way to our destination, if you wish to rest or take a nap, there are small cabins below deck with soft cotton fiber hammocks available. In case you're in need of food or refreshments, there is a small Kitchen at the end of the hallway with all the snacks and drinks you want. There are also plenty of USB ports around so you can easily charge any of your devices, even though it's highly recommended to put your devices in airplane mode while in any aircraft, I'm pretty sure you guys are gonna ignore that. So when you are online… you wouldn't mind… um.. to give me… a high rating in the Bowser Minion app… please." he finished with a hint of desperation.

Feeling a bit tired, Wendy headed to a nearby cabin to rest. The cabin was very small, only having a singular hammock and a surge protector below it, she hopped on the hammock, letting out a sigh of relief as the cotton fiber was very comfortable.

_Almost like sleeping in a cloud…_

She took out her phone and checked the time, it was 7:30 pm, if everything goes well they will arrive at the Casino by 10:30. She decided that she might as well give Captain Paraplonk a good rating in the Minion app.

The app was created not that long ago as a way to improve the overall performance of the minions under Lord Bowser's control. Whoever has the highest rating by the end of the annual pay period will be rewarded a month long paid vacation, all expenses during that time will also be fully paid off by the Kingdom. The Koopalings could have also been part of this sweepstakes, but Bowser stated that they were "much more than just minions".

She opened the app and looked at the leaderboard, Kamek and Kammy were currently fighting for the top spot, whichever one wins the vacation in all honesty deserves it,

_Those two haven't had a vacation in centuries…_

She scrolled down to see Corporal Paraplonk in an abysmal 36th place, feeling bad about it, she gave him a five star rating and wrote a nice little review alongside it,

"_**A very kind, funny and loyal minion. Very underappreciated. Please give him a raise."**_

She submitted the review and smiled as his ranking went up by five places, giving him a strong 31st. She closed her phone and shut her eyes getting ready to take a small nap, the intercom will beep a bit as Corporal Paraplonk's voice was heard-

"THANK YOU! THANK YOU Mistress Wendy!, you are an absolute angel your beautifulness!"

Wendy would hear Captain Boo yell at him, "Dude no matter how hard you try, she ain't gonna end up with you!"

"A KOOPA CAN DREAM!" he yelled back.

She chortled as the two minions began bickering at each other, she closed her eyes again as she drifted to sleep.

* * *

S_he could feel the gentle breeze hitting softly in her face as she was zooming on an empty highway in her new pink Mercedes. She doesn't know how she got here, but right now, she could care less. The vacant highway gave her the freedom to go as fast as her Mercedes possibly could and she was loving every moment of it. She spotted a pink limousine ahead of her, having an idea of who was inside, she slowed down a bit until she was driving at the same speed as the limousine._

_The windows rolled down revealing Princess Peach who was taken aback seeing Wendy driving right by her, Wendy gave her a small wink and a mischievous grin as she slammed on the pedal leaving Peach's vehicle to bite her dust. She laughed hysterically as the limousine disappeared behind her, the funny moment would abruptly end as she started hearing police sirens, she internally groaned as she was probably gonna get ticketed for speeding._

_She slowed down and parked the vehicle to the side of the road, the police car parking a few feet behind her. She would hear the officer open the door and slammed it shut as he began approaching her vehicle. Wendy began to look for her license and registration, she was in no real rush knowing she was at most gonna get a ticket and her dad was likely gonna pay for it, she sensed the officer standing by the side door._

"_Officer I apologize for driving above the limit, But I assure you my father King Bowser will be able to settle this later."_

"_Funny, I'm pretty sure I heard that one before."_

_Wendy's heart stopped as the officers voice was vaguely familiar, she turned around and gasped as she saw in a police uniform staring venomously at her._

"_You lied to me Ms. Wendy."_

_Wendy looked at her steering wheel as it disappeared into mere dust, soon after the rest of the car disintegrated leaving her to fall on her tushie, dropping hard on the pavement. While attempting to get up, Ms. Bones grabbed a hold of Wendy and slammed her down on the ground knocking the wind out of her, Ms. Bones began handcuffing her as Wendy tried to gasp for air._

"_Ms. Bones, Please let me go! I'm sorry I couldn't pay in-" she was cut short as Miss Bones took out a night stick and started savagely beating her with it. Wendy could feel her ribs breaking and the blood pouring out of her head as Ms. Bones kept hitting her, showing no sign of stopping._

"_What is going on here officer!" A gruff voice was heard in front of them._

_Wendy looked forward and smiled in delight seeing Bowser in a large Koopa Clown Car._

"_Dad … help me." she said as the pain was making it hard for her to speak._

_She would hear Ms. Bones speak behind her in an authoritative tone, "Lord Bowser, your daughter hasn't kept the side of her deal, and for that I'm giving her a well deserved punishment. Do you wish for me to stop or continue your highness?"_

_Wendy looked back and saw Bowser contemplating on what to pick, he looked at her bloody form and gave a bone chilling smile._

"_Do as you wish Officer, I have no daughter."_

_Wendy's heart shattered into millions of pieces after hearing that, soon Bowser Jr. and the rest of the Koopalings appeared from the clown car, all grinning evilly at her._

"_My sons, do you recognize this girl?" Bowser asked them._

_They all shook their heads, still with wicked grins on their faces._

"_Have a pleasant day officer." Bowser said as he drove off._

_Wendy watched the car disappear over the horizon, tears began spilling from her eyes, sobbing after she was abandoned by her Dad and brothers. Ms. Bones roughly picked her up as another police car stopped in front of them._

"_Do you know what happens to lying girls Ms. Wendy?" Ms. Bones asked while she opened the back door of the cruiser. She threw Wendy roughly in the back seat, _

"_Bad things happen."_

_She slammed the door shut as the cruiser began driving away, Wendy would sit back up and began crying uncontrollably after the sequence of events._

"_Hey, don't cry, I promise I'll make this all better." she heard the officer driving the vehicle say, the voice was familiar, but Wendy was too busy crying to care._

"_Say, How about I cheer you up. Let's just head to a secret hidden place I know." he said._

_Wendy wiped her tears with her shoulders, trying to see who the driver was, she could have sworn she recognized it. However, her vision was too blurry from all the crying to have a good look at the officer. _

_She began to get nervous as the cruiser drove off road into the woods, it will dwell deeper inside until they were surrounded in darkness, far away from the highway._

"_Now then-" the stranger started as he turned on the interior car lights, Wendy gasped in horror as she saw Wart in a police uniform staring back at her._

"_Let's have some fun *ribbit* sweetheart." he unbuckled his seatbelt as he headed to the back seats._

_Wendy screamed, banging her body with all her might onto the car window in a desperate attempt to get out, her hands were cuffed behind her making it impossible to open it. Wart would put his slimy hand over her mouth, covering her screams. He pulled her back, crawling on top of her as he began to undo his pants, Wendy shooked and kicked with all her might trying to get him off her._

_Wart shushed her and said something that made Wendy's skin crawl, "It'll only get worse if you resist, my queen." he began laughing sinisterly._

_Tears started falling from Wendy's eyes as she could feel Wart groping her, she closed her eyes as she sadly waited for the inevitable._

* * *

A hard rumble jolted Wendy awake from the nightmare, she clutched her chest as she tried to control her breathing. Corporal Paraplonk spoke through the speakers again-

"Sorry about that fellow passengers, just some turbulence. We will arrive at our destination in about 30 minutes."

Wendy checked her phone and saw that it was 10 o'clock, she was asleep for two and a half hours.

_Yet I'm more exhausted than I was before…_

She wiped the tears off her face, her whole body sweating and trembling, still shook from the nightmare she had. She decided to head up to the deck to get some fresh air to help calm herself down a bit.

While making her way upstairs, she spotted Captain Boo floating in the middle of the stairs playing on what seems to be an old gameboy. He was really engrossed in the game since he didn't notice her walking past him, either that or he didn't really care.

The cold breeze would hit once she was near the top, small snowflakes were dropping gradually from the snow clouds above the ship. When she reached the deck she stood there for a bit and let the crystal snowflakes fall on her face, the small dabs of the frosty liquids gave her soft tingling sensations throughout her body, she stuck out her tongue and watched the flakes flutter down and melt on it.

She stopped after a bit and looked at her surroundings, she saw Corporal Paraplonk by the steering wheel, he was wearing wired headphones, jamming to his tunes while doing small dance moves.

She noticed Larry to her right resting his arms by the railings of the airship, his baby-blue Mohawk swaying with the cold windy breeze. She also noticed his glum expression as he looked down below, wondering what's making him feel down, she headed towards him and stood next to him while putting both of her arms on the railing.

She looked down and was beyond captivated at the view below her, she saw a village filled with marvelous igloos ranging in different sizes and magnificent ice sculptures that shined bright with the moonlight, Penguin families emerged from their igloos, sliding down the snowy hills, all enjoying the beautiful snowy night.

She spotted a father Penguin and his children building a miniature snowman, all of them having a splendid time together. Wendy couldn't help but smile at the sight,

_I miss those days…_

She turned her head and saw Larry with the same downcasted expression, staring aimlessly below.

"So what's up with you?" she asked.

Larry flinched when he heard her, completely unaware that she was right next to him. He was about to retort but took a step back once he saw her, visibly wincing.

"Could say the same about you, you look like you've been through hell."

Wendy became concerned at his comment, she quickly took out her phone and turned on the front camera. Her face was a complete mess as her makeup around her face, lips and eyelids were leaking or smudged, most likely from the crying and sweating she did after the nightmare.

Lucky for her, she brought backup in case of a malfunction. She reached behind and took some makeup from her shell, she cleaned up the mess and applied lipstick, eyeliner and powdered her face a bit. In about two minutes, she was good as new.

She looked back at Larry, who was still awaiting an explanation for her initial appearance.

"I … had a bad dream." she answered.

"Oh." was the only thing he could say.

They both looked away from each other, there was an awkward silence that lasted for a minute until Larry spoke up,

"Um… can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"When you needed the money, why didn't you ask Lord Bowser or Ludwig first?" he asked.

Wendy realized she forgot to tell him about the altercation she had with Bowser before she went to his room.

"I did ask Bowser first, but he's only paying the tuition while I handle the Tank and right now, he's pretty pissed at me." she explained to him.

"And Ludwig?"

"Don't you remember? He's right now on a symphony tour in New Donk City."

Ludwig finally earned the gig he always dreamed of two week ago, after doing some auditions he would receive a call from Mayor Pauline, where she invited him to compose and play in one of their largest theaters in the middle of the city for a full month. He would do it while under two conditions, one was that he must vow that he and his band will not cause any sort of destruction in the theater or out in the city, and second was that he is barred from projecting any kind of Darklandian or Pro-Bowser propaganda while playing there.

He humbly accepted her terms, but needed King Bowser's authorization in order to complete the contract. Wendy recalled the conversation he had with Bowser regarding the tour as she was secretly watching them from afar…

* * *

Wendy would sneak into the throne room, completely unnoticed by Lord Bowser who was on his throne currently drinking a mango smoothie. The reason she was here is that she wanted to get closer to the internet router, which was conveniently placed here.

She wanted to have a stronger WiFi signal so she can see the notifications of her social media page after she posted a _'saucy'_ picture of herself.

She noticed Ludwig entering into the throne room with a letter in his hand, fearing getting caught, she headed to a dark corner behind her and retreated into her shell. She slowly poked her head out to see what Ludwig was doing here in the first place.

He stopped in front of Bowser and straightened his posture as he prepared to speak with the King.

"Your Majesty! I respectfully request an audience with you Immediately." Ludwig said in his most sophisticated tone.

Bowser ceased mid-slurp, just realizing that Ludwig was in front of him. His eyes flicking left and right, utterly confused on why the eldest Koopaling was here. He swallowed the remaining juice in his mouth before answering.

"Um… sure."

"I have received a formal invitation from Mayor Pauline to orchestrate a month-long symphony tour in New Donk City. I have come to seek your approval in this matter." Ludwig replied as he gave him the letter.

Bowser took the letter with one hand and looked it over, it was an official contract written by the office of New Donk City, signed by Mayor Pauline herself. Bowser remembers her as he invited her to the wedding on the moon, where he was so close to marrying his Peach.

_Damn you Mario…_

"So you're saying you want to postpone your responsibilities as a General for a whole month, just so you can play instruments?" He looked back at Ludwig with a stern look.

If Ludwig was showing any sign of fear or nervousness, he was hiding it pretty well.

"Yes, your highness." he boldly stated.

Bowser didn't seem to take that answer well as he roughly slammed his drink on the arm rest, some mango smoothie fluids spilling out from the cup. He leaned forward and waved Ludwig to get near him.

"Ludwig, Come closer."

Ludwig's calm expression broke as his face started conveying an uneasy feeling of dread.

"If you leave for the month, who's gonna be the temporary leader of the Koopalings?" Bowser questioned him.

He knew that this was one question that was gonna pop up, so he gave him his choreographed answer.

"Though Roy is next in line due to age and experience, I would rather have Wendy in that position as she has shown leadership, brilliance and tenacity. I have full faith that she will do a great job as the temporary leader for the month."

Wendy was rather touched by Ludwig's compliments, it seems that he has grown more respect for her while they were back in Medical School.

"That still doesn't sway the fact that you're willing to abandon a high military position for a bit, just so you can play some tunes." Bowser replied harshly.

He leaned back in his throne, looking down at Ludwig with an upset gaze.

"I'm disappointed in you Ludwig."

Wendy could hear Ludwig's heart shatter as he displayed a crushed and dejected expression, he dipped his head down in shame and sorrow. Wendy desperately wanted to run to him and hug him tight, but didn't want to be scolded by Bowser for sneaking in.

"I'm so-sorry, Lord Bowser." he whimpered.

Bowser looked back at the letter and pointed something out to him.

"I mean, it says here that your supposed tour will start in two days, shouldn't you be heading there right now and begin preparing."

Ludwig looked back up at him, not sure if he heard him correctly, "Wh-What?"

Bowser let out a monstrous laugh at seeing his bewildered look,

"Bwahahaha! I'm just messing with you kid. Go on and have fun, it's about time you took a break."

A large joyful smile came across Ludwig's face, he ran up and tightly hugged Bowser's right leg.

"Thank You! Thank you father- I mean Lord Bowser!" he corrected himself before running back to his room to get his stuff, ready to leave.

Bowser would call out to him before he managed to leave the throne room.

"Wait! Once you get there, I have an order that I want you to fulfill."

Ludwig halted in his tracks and ran back to him, straightening his posture again once he was standing in front of his view.

Bowser chuckled at said action before he stood up from his throne and kneeled down in front of the young prodigy, he put a massive claw on his shoulder and gave a firm yet warm clutch.

"Give them the greatest damn symphony they've ever heard." he ordered.

Ludwig smiled brightly at the command he was given, giving Bowser a military salute,

"Yes Sir!"

The altercation between the two tugged Wendy's heartstrings, she smiled as she saw Ludwig run out of the throne room, hollering a "Yes!" every once in a while. Bowser sat back on his throne and continued to drink his mango smoothie, looking rather pleased at his eldest koopaling's satisfaction.

Once she saw him looking the other way, she made a hasty retreat out of his throne room.

* * *

While she enjoyed being the leader of the Koopalings these last two weeks, it sadly didn't last, as she heard that Bowser has stripped her from the leadership role and handed it to Roy after the whole Tank debacle earlier today.

_I only got myself to blame for that one._

"There's people out there that still like classical music?" Larry said looking rather puzzled at the notion.

"It's a big world out there Larry, millions of people with different tastes in music."

A truer statement couldn't be said any better, from what she heard, tickets to Ludwig's symphony were sold out quickly for the whole month. Many from around the world wanting to see what the Koopaling and his orchestra from the Koopa Kingdom has to offer in classical art.

While classical music wasn't really her forte, since she enjoys mostly pop and the occasional boy bands, she has a mutual respect for the genre as she found it quite soothing.

"Plus give Ludwig a break, after all the stuff he has done for Bowser, Junior and the rest of us, he deserves a good time to himself."

Being the eldest of them all, he spent most of childhood watching over all of them, making sure they're all in check, (especially Roy and Iggy as they tend to be the most troublesome of the group) he rarely had time for himself, especially now as he is a top general for the Koopa Troop.

So she is quite delighted in seeing her older brother finally having a great time doing something he loves.

"Yeah, you're right." Larry agreed.

She nudged him a bit, "So what's wrong?"

"I don't know, just… thinking." He replied, rubbing his arm while looking away from her.

She knew Larry wasn't really that kind of person to openly express his emotions and feelings with someone else, unless he gets something in return.

An idea popped in Wendy's head, she decided to try a different tactic.

"How about a deal?"

This sparked Larry's curiosity as he turned to her,

"I'll go first in telling what's up with me, and then you tell me what's up with you, sounds good?" Wendy was hopeful he would accept the deal, which in her opinion was a pretty good deal to pass.

He pondered for a bit before giving a small nod, "Okay."

"Alright…So I had a nightmare… "

She began with the Mercedes in the highway, on how it disappeared to dust when Ms. Bones appeared as a cop and pummeled her with a nightstick. She continued with where Bowser and the rest abandoned her there, and ending it with Wart attempting to rape her in the back of the police car.

Larry's face brooded into sadness and concern as she kept going on in detail of her nightmare, once she was finished, he placed a hand over her own, stroking it in comfort.

"You're scared of seeing him again, are you?" he asked with worry in his tone.

Wendy could only give a weak nod, she isn't really fearful of a lot of things, besides Lord Bowser's punishments or a bad makeup disaster. But when it comes to Wart, it feels different, it feels… personal.

"I've seen the shit he was pulling when he visited the Castle that one time and trust me, I don't want him to come close to you, Ever. Which is why I gave you a part in which you have no contact with him at all."

Larry remembers how the large frog king would eye his oldest sister like she was a toy he wanted to play with. Lemmy, being the good guy that he is, did his best in distracting him so he wouldn't approach Wendy for the whole day.

He was beyond furious when he spotted Wart eyeing Lemmy the same way as well.

"I promise you Wendy, if he touches you, I'll make him wish he didn't." he said with determination in his eyes.

She grinned warmly at her younger brother's statement, heart fluttering at seeing how much he cared for her.

She grabbed a hold of him and gave him a hard noogie, "Thank you Larry."

She continued to grind her knuckles on his head for a few seconds before releasing, both snickering for a bit.

"Alright, now it's your turn."

He twiddled his fingers, "I'm worried Wendy."

"About the heist?" she questioned.

"I just want everything to go smoothly, I don't want this to be another failure."

Wendy was generally curious about what he meant, "Another failure?"

"You know what I mean, it seems that every plan I make, every fight I'm in, I just… fail." His body deflated after conveying that.

"Larry what are you talki-" she attempted to ask, but Larry cut her off,

"You see my crew? They are all relying on me because they have big things riding on this."

He turned back and pointed at Captain Boo who was now on deck, still playing in his little gameboy.

"Captain Boo is hoping to get a promotion and become a lieutenant, if this plan's a success he would become the highest ranking Boo in the history of the Koopa Troop. And you see Corporal Paraplonk-"

They turned towards the front where the Corporal was still dancing with the music he was playing, oblivious to the two pairs of eyes watching him.

"Him and Sergeant Guy were part of an Elite Trio, but has had it pretty rough since they were brainwashed by Fawful and turned against Lord Bowser, they were completely shunned and ridiculed for this by the Koopa Troop. They were given a second chance as they were promoted as Bowser's Royal Guard, but they didn't do so well and were demoted as janitors by Kamek."

Wendy gave a saddened look at the Corporal, feeling really bad for what the minion had to go through.

_He seems so nice and sweet…_

"These guys are good minions, and I wanted to give them a chance at redemption, so I took them in. I didn't bring in the third member of the trio, Private Goomp, cause he's a Goomba and in a heist, arms and hands are vital. But don't worry about him, he's working on a project with Lemmy."

Wendy was impressed and proud at seeing Larry caring and giving these minions a chance at redeeming themselves.

"That's really great of you Larry." she complimented.

"I know, I'll do all I can to help them… cause I'm just sick and tired of disappointing everyone."

"Larry that is not true!" she scolded him, baffled on why he would think like this.

"You of all Koopas should know this! I'm literally the worst Koopaling! You guys are either smarter, stronger and more talented than I ever will be. And I'm just… generic." he sighed heavily.

"I just wanna impress not only you guys, but Lord Bowser too. I owe him so much after he took us in from that shitty orphanage, he trusts me in being a top general yet I keep messing up and losing to Mario, it pisses me off that I'm failing him. He probably hates me now." Larry dipped his head down in indignity.

Wendy placed both her hands on his cheeks, pinching them softly.

"Larry, look at me. He doesn't hate you, none of us do. Also, you're not the only one that failed to stop Mario, all of us have failed to stop him, but that doesn't deter us one bit, cause we ain't giving up until that plumber is gone."

Larry was still looking down, not even bothering to look up at her. So she tried a different method,

"You wanna know a secret? I'm 95 percent sure that you're Bowser's favorite Koopaling."

This caught his attention as he looked back up to her, "R-Really?"

"Why do you think that whenever we get punished, you're the one that gets the lighter end of the stick." she implied.

* * *

Larry looked back at this one time when Junior and the Koopalings destroyed a large part of the east wing of the Castle while playing with a Bomb-omb. Junior attempted to blame them for it, but Bowser knew better and scolded them all to their rooms, telling them to get ready for their _**punishment**_.

As Larry awaited anxiously in his room, he could hear Morton's room door open, (which was located across from Larry's) and the sound of a metal chain being dragged on the floor. He heard Bowser order Morton to turn around and stick his tail out before hearing him whip him several times, Morton crying in agony with every impact.

Larry felt like he was gonna piss himself, but knew that since Bowser was in front, he would be next. He sighed in defeat, placing both his hands on his bed and sticking his tail out, ready to receive the extremely painful beating.

He heard his door open roughly, probably Bowser intentionally doing it to incite more fear.

He closed his eyes tightly and gritted his teeth, getting ready to start wailing after getting whipped. But a beating never came, instead, Bowser gave him a stern warning to never blow up something in this Castle ever again or else he would whip him with 120 percent of his power, he also told him to get ready for dinner in five minutes before leaving.

Larry stood there completely flabbergasted at only getting a warning for his misdeed.

When he arrived at the dining room, he saw Junior and the rest of the Koopalings limp their way to their seats, all with dry tears and deep marks of a metal chain on their butts. Many choosing to stand as sitting down was proving to be a painful task for them.

* * *

"Huh, never really thought of that." He muttered after replaying the memory.

"Listen Bro, this heist will be a breeze and nothing wrong will happen. I promise you, I'll do everything I can to make it right." She assured him.

"Thanks Wendy."

They both hugged each other tightly, the cold breeze barely affecting their warm embrace.

"Hey guys! We are five minutes away." Corporal Paraplonk hollered at the two.

They immediately let go of each other and looked ahead, seeing a bright silhouette through the snowy clouds. As the snowy clouds dispersed, it revealed a large Casino residing on top of a snowy hill.

Mt. Wario was a massive snowy terrain that was used several times as a race track, but as racing season is over, the place has morphed into a high luxury ski resort, the Casino being the main attraction.

The Casino was only two floors high but the huge surrounding area of square feet and the mammoth parking lot behind made up for it. From what Wendy can tell, the structure was made out of carrara marble, she knew this as she had the same design in her personal bathroom.

Since this building was owned by Wario, there was without a doubt that he would place a statue or sign of himself on said property. This was proven when they saw a massive sign pasted in front of the Casino, it showed Wario grinning mischievously in his infamous yellow and purple attire while holding a large sack of coins, below the sign, it read;

**Welcome to Mt. Wario's Casino**

_***No refunds under any circumstances**_

_***Taxes and fees may apply**_

Larry clasped his hands to get everyone's attention, "Alright! It's time boys!"

Wendy cleared her throat, crossed her arms and stared at him angrily. Larry looked at her, confused as to why she was upset until he realized his mistake.

"And girl." he sheepishly added.

She smirked at his correction, he then took out a small plastic Ziploc bag from his shell, taking out a small earpiece and giving it to Wendy.

"Here Wendy, put this on."

She placed the mini earpiece in her ear, adjusting it so it was more comfortable. She saw Larry run over to the other side of the airship, stopping several feet away and looked back at her,

"Testing 1, 2, 3, can you hear me, over?" she heard him clearly through the earpiece.

"Loud and Clear." She replied.

"Loud and clear what?"

Wendy groaned at her brother's annoying antics, with a sigh, she responded back.

"Loud and clear, over."

Larry gave her a thumbs up before giving out the other earpieces to the rest of the crew.

As they neared the Casino, Corporal Paraplonk flipped a switch causing a large force-field to surround the whole airship, making it completely invisible to the people below and any airplane surveillance radar.

"Corporal, head to the trees over there!" he said while pointing at an area with an influx of trees, a couple of minutes downhill from the Casino.

Corporal Paraplonk quickly did as told, turning the airship to the destination. He hovered the vehicle close to the ground, just enough for Wendy to land safely without hurting herself.

As she prepared to jump off the airship, Larry grabbed a hold of her arm,

"Okay Wendy, when you see that there's absolutely no one outside the Casino, you give us the word so that me and Boo can start gliding down."

"Roger that." she affirmed before giving a small salute.

He let go of her arm, backing away to give her some space to jump. Wendy took a deep breath before leaping off, landing softly on the blanket of snow below.

She got up slowly and dusted the snow off her body, feeling a bit chilly after the fall.

"Good luck Sis!" Larry called out to her below.

"Good luck Mistress Wendy!" Captain Boo and Corporal Paraplonk exclaimed in unison.

"Good luck boys." she mumbled as the airship gained altitude, hovering over the clouds above the Casino.

She noticed the road going uphill a few feet to her left, so she decided to walk up beside it, her pink heels being used as a surprising pair of snowshoes, the sharp point behind providing a good grip as she climbed up.

After a few minutes, she arrived at the front entrance. She looked around the front for any sign of someone outside, luckily for her, there was no one in sight, everyone mostly still inside as heavy snow started falling down.

"Larry, the coast is clear, you can come down now." she proclaimed through the small earpiece.

Larry heard this back on the airship and quickly attached the parachute behind him, he called out to Corporal Paraplonk,

"Corporal! Keep this baby steady, and get ready to drop the basket on my signal."

"Absolutely Master Larry!"

Larry stood at the edge of the ship, Captain Boo right next to him, both getting ready to glide down to the roof of the Casino. He turned to the Captain and noticed that he didn't have his parachute on.

"Yo, ain't you gonna put on your parachute?" he questioned the dead spirit.

Captain Boo gawks at Larry, looking at him like he grew two heads.

"Dude, I'm a Boo, I can just float down."

"Oh… right." Larry muttered, his cheeks flushing red in embarrassment.

_Damn, I just pulled a Morton._

Hoping to forget the embarrassing moment, he jumped off the ship and dived below, Captain Boo floating close behind.

As he quickly approached the roof, he pulled the cord, opening his parachute as he slowly descended downward.

It seemed he was gonna land easily, until a strong gust of wind pulled him forward. Larry let out a yelp as he landed hard, face first on the Casino roof.

He groaned from the pain for a bit, slowly getting up. He rubbed his face for while, until he placed both hands on his hips, smiling triumphantly at his _"successful"_ dive.

"Boom! Perfect landing!"

"No it wasn-" Captain Boo was about to correct him, but Larry immediately seized him from continuing.

"Shut it!"

He took off the parachute and headed to the large air vent. Using his sharp claws, he removed all the nails, detaching the cover of the ventilation system.

Him and Captain both grimaced as they looked upon the dust and cob-webbed filled entrance. He pushed a finger on his earpiece as he began to communicate with Wendy.

"Ok Wendy, We start phase one once you open those doors."

Wendy took out her phone, making sure that she looked presentable before going inside. She quickly adjusted her bow-tie and headed to the front doors.

She placed her hands on the large crystal doors, taking one last breath before triggering the start of the heist.

"It's showtime."

* * *

_**Author's notes:**_

_**Hope you enjoyed Part 1, cause its about to get a whole lot juicier in part 2.**_

_**In this story, I wanted to make Bowser a stern, but caring father who is harsh but fair to his children.**_

_**I wanna give a thank you to StarlitDuck for her criticism, I have edited thoroughly this chapter as well as the others so phrases like "he will" or "she will" aren't used that often before an action.  
**_

_**All criticism and reviews are welcome!**_

_**Original cover art is from shinygiratinas Tumblr.**_

_**Thank you for reading!**_


	5. The Heist - Part 2

_**Sorry for the delay friends, I've been feeling pretty sick the last month, but feeling a little better now.**_

_**Now, I present to all of you, the long awaited part 2 of the Heist.**_

_**This part was a doozy to finish, but I'm very pleased with its outcome. I hope you all enjoy the juicy climax of this 3-part chapter.**_

_**Warning:**__** Some scenes may be a bit uncomfortable for some readers.**_

_**(Rated T for language, alcohol use and mild sexual themes.)**_

* * *

_**Two hours earlier**_

He could practically smell the plethora of gold coins being spent on his stacks of Casino table games, hear the sweet sound of various slot machines being played over and over again as those who are playing it, were hoping to strike it big.

He snickers mischievously, knowing full well that they're not gonna get a single stroke of luck tonight. He already programmed a winner on whoever is lucky enough to sit in slot machine E4 on Monday afternoon.

He lies back on his expensive golden chair and placed his feet on top of his exorbitant golden office desk.

From his second floor office, he looked down upon the main floor through the large office window, getting a good view of his wealthy patrons wasting away their earnings.

He smiled at the sight while playing with his mustache, knowing that their earnings will soon be in his fat pockets. He couldn't contain his glee anymore,

"Man, I love being rich!" Wario proudly declared.

"Amen to that brother!" A voice said behind him.

Wario turned around to his lanky brother Waluigi, who was casually lying on an extravagant golden sofa, watching the hourly Casino earnings through a laptop he was holding.

While Wario and Waluigi weren't brothers by blood, they formed a strong bond through the years of countless greedy and money scheming misadventures. From Bank robberies, friendly tennis tournaments, and just being an overall menace to the Mario brothers, their partnership soon became a brotherly bond unlike any other.

"So Waluigi, what's our projected profit for this fine Friday night?" He asked.

"If everything goes well at this rate, we'll have a comfortable eight hundred thousand gold coins, and that's without inducting the Royals table game tonight."

Wario couldn't help but rub his hands together, the monthly event where King Boo, King Wart, King Bob-omb and Queen Bean comes to his Casino to play some games, nets him a good chunk of money as he gets 20 percent of the winner's earnings.

He looked at his watch, eyes bulging at seeing the time, "Talking about the Royals table game, they should be here real soon, come on Waluigi, let's give them a formal welcome."

"Right behind you." Waluigi said as he closed the laptop and began trailing behind him.

They headed to the V.I.P section of the Casino and waited for the special guests to arrive. Two minutes later, the first guest, King Bob-omb appeared. The massive Bob-omb with a large jeweled crown and white mustache, walked in with pure confidence, every step causing a rumble across the Casino, most of the guests not paying it any mind.

"Wario, Waluigi! How are you my chaps!" He greeted them in delight, respectfully shaking both their hands.

"We're doing just dandy King Bob-omb, How about you?" Wario asked the exuberant giant, who seems to be in a very joyful mood.

"Just splendid my dear boys! I have a good feeling about tonight, and I see that mustache of yours is dignified as ever Mr. Wario. As for you Mr. Waluigi… it's getting there."

"Gee, thanks for the compliment." Waluigi uttered through gritted teeth.

Wario chuckled, playfully nudging his associate, "We're both happy to have you here your highness, why don't you have a seat at the table we set up for all of you, the rest will arrive shortly."

"Why thank you gents." He tipped his crown at them before heading to the table.

From the corner of his eye, he spotted Waluigi stroking his mustache, looking rather hurt.

"Your mustache is fine bro, he's just playing with you." Wario hoped this was enough for Waluigi to stop.

"I know, I know, still felt like a punch to my pride though." he let out one last long stroke before letting go of his mustache.

Five minutes forward, Queen Bean, the ruler of the Beanbean Kingdom showed up.

"Yoohoo!" the obese beanish with purple hair and an orange dress hollered at them.

"Hey there your majesty. Welcome back." Waluigi hailed while waving at her.

"How mighty kind of you! I Missed you two little onions!" she said as she squeezed both their cheeks, Wario and Waluigi both grimacing at the pain.

"We… missed… you… too. How's… your… son?" Wario tried to ask as the queen kept squeezing.

"My young boy Peasley is doing marvelous, how sweet of you to ask! Mama has got to go now, cause this queen can feel the luck flowing through her veins!" She let go of them and walked towards the table, taking a seat next to King Bob-omb.

Wario and Waluigi both rubbed their cheeks, still feeling rather sore from the pinching.

"Damn, that lady is mighty strong." Waluigi commented.

"She sure is."

They both jumped in fright as King Boo appeared in front of them out of thin air.

"GAH! King Boo! Were you here the whole time?!" Wario yelled at the large Boo, not too pleased at being frightened like that.

"Yeah, I wanted my entrance to be a surprising one." King Boo conveyed a derpy smile, his sticking his tongue out in a funny way.

"Well color us surprised your highness. How's the afterlife treating you?" Waluigi questioned him.

He shrugged nonchalantly, "Eh, it's okay, just that Luigi has been giving me trouble lately."

"Don't you worry about him King Boo, just give us a good reward and we'll happily take care of the green guy for you." Wario said as Waluigi pounded his fists behind him.

King Boo snickered at the two, "Hehe, I'll take your word for it. Now as you'll excuse me, I'm about to show these losers how to play a game."

He floated towards the table, sitting next to Queen Bean who was having a conversation with King Bob-omb.

Wario looked at the three, seeing one seat was still empty, "Three down, guess that leaves one more."

All of a sudden, loud trumpets sounds were heard, notifying the whole Casino that King Wart has arrived. The large green frog with a big white round belly, wearing a large golden necklace, a golden crown and a fur coated cape, came hopping towards Wario and Waluigi's direction.

They both noticed behind him were a bunch of Snifet's and Ninji's rolling in bags of gold coins on wheelbarrows. All the minions looking tired and distressed at carrying the excessive weight.

The two brothers bowed down to the King of the Subcon region once he stood in front of them.

"It is an honor to have your presence in my Casino, King Wart." Wario respectfully addressed him.

King Wart looked down judgingly at the two before he gave a coy smile afterword, "Why thank you gentlemen,_*ribbit*_ you may rise up now."

They both stood up as told, brushing their knees in an attempt to remove some dust.

"So King Wart, how are things?" Wario asked the large amphibian.

The king manifested a large grin at said question, "Very good, very good indeed. I have big plans coming soon._*ribbit*_ But for tonight, I shall have a little fun with my acquaintances."

"Well, forgive us for intruding, they are waiting for you at the table." Waluigi told him..

"Excellent."

He hopped towards the reserved table, and took the empty seat by King Boo. The three Royals all smiled politely at him.

"Greetings Ladies and Gentlemen." He greeted them while giving slight nods to their directions.

They all nodded back at him, all looking quite happy at seeing him finally arrive.

"What's up King Wart." King Boo welcomed him.

King Bob-omb tipped his crown, "Salutations mate."

"King Wart baby, long time no see." Queen Bean replied, waving him a hello.

King Wart smiled warmly at the three, happy that they welcomed him so kindly. They've been doing this monthly friendly table game thing for more than a year, exponentially increasing the amount of trust and respect between the four and their Kingdoms or ruled lands.

Wario would cut in on the small gathering for a moment,

"Sorry to interrupt you four, but I must inquire in what you are all betting for tonight so it can be safely stored in our vaults for later."

King Bob-omb took off his crown and pulled the red gem that was attached to it, handing it to Wario.

"This is a pure ruby jewel, should be worth an estimated 500 thousand gold coins."

Queen Bean took out a small box that she hid between her breasts and opened it revealing a shiny silver colored necklace.

"I've got this beautiful necklace made of the finest and rarest metals. It's retail price is at least 800 grand." she proclaimed as she placed it softly on Wario's hand.

King Boo clapped his hands twice, making a large jar appear out of nowhere. The jar was seeping an oozy green color where you could see a blank spirit inside desperately trying to let itself out, crying out an eerie sound.

"Hehe, I've got the soul of a cursed princess who ruled hundreds of years ago, an easy million gold coins for this beauty."

He nudged the jar a bit, causing the spirit to immediately stop its attempt at escaping.

"As for me, I have brought two million gold coins, all physical _*ribbit*_ pure gold." King Wart said, extending his arms in the direction of his tired minions and abundance of full coin sacs.

"Very nice. Waluigi! Employees! Could you all be so kind and help bring these items to the vault upstairs. I'll meet you there soon."

Waluigi and a couple of workers did as told, carefully taking the items from Wario's grasp. Wart's minions let out sighs of relief as Waluigi and the others took it upon themselves to bring the bags of coins upstairs.

"Now, I humbly request your smartphones so we can open your personal vaults, and safely store your items." Wario politely requested the four.

Most of them voluntarily gave their smartphones to him, giving him their complete trust in handling their devices. Wart on the other hand wasn't too pleased at the notion, not afraid to voice his displeasure on the matter.

"Grrr, I don't know why you had to change the physical keys to electronic ones, this just feels like more work, _*ribbit*_ plus I hate technology." He seethed as he handed his phone to him.

Wario knew of Wart's short temper and suspicions of modern telecommunications, as the large frog considers it a threat to the stabilization and control of his kingdom. So he tried to soothe his concerns the best he could.

"I apologize your majesty, but I assure you that your coins are safer than ever."

"It better be, cause if I see a single gold coin missing, _*ribbit*_ you're dead." Wart threatened the plump billionaire, putting a lot of emphasis on the last two words.

Wario visibly gulped, laughing nervously at the frog's threat.

"Hehe, of course King Wart."

Looking to not make the situation worse, he turned around and went on his way to meet Waluigi and the others who were waiting for him upstairs.

He spotted them lounging next to the metal bars protecting the titanium vaults inside, standing guard by it was a young attentive Hammer Bro and an older Sledge Bro who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but there.

"Guards, open it." Wario ordered the two.

"Yes Sir!" They both obliged, standing by opposite ends and scanned their security cards simultaneously.

The metal bars automatically opened, giving Wario and the rest full access to the vaults. He pulled out all of the smartphones and one by one opened the doors by waving the Royals smartphones near the scanners of their respected vaults.

He carefully placed the jewels and jar, making sure that they don't fall and break by wrapping them all in soft cushions. Last thing he wants is to accidentally break the red gem or silver necklace, or worse, shatter the jar that would send a cursed spirit to haunt his Casino, scaring away his patrons and lower the property value of his estate.

Wario shuddered at the thought.

Once those three items were put in place, he scanned Wart's smartphone on his personal vault and opened it. The vault was considerably the largest of the four, big enough to fit a car. The large space was a necessity seeing that Wart brings a significant amount of money every time.

Wario, Waluigi and the rest began tossing the numerous bags of gold coins inside, the process taking less than two minutes to complete.

As the last bag was thrown in, they closed the vault and exited the area. The metal bars closing it off for added security.

"That's a wrap folks, you can all head back to what you were doing. As for you two, make sure you keep this area secure, got it?" Wario said to the guards.

"We'll do our very best sir!" the young Hammer Bro responded while the older Sledge Bro gave a small nod.

"Very good. Waluigi, let's say our goodbyes to the guests before we leave."

They both returned downstairs to where the four royals were residing, all of them conversing happily with each other.

"Sorry to disturb you friends, but me and Waluigi are gonna head off now on important… _business._" Wario informed the group while handing back their devices.

This catches the curiosity of Queen Bean, "And what is this business, if I dare ask?"

"We put a large wager on a boxing match tonight, so me and Waluigi are gonna make sure that the result ends in our favor… if you catch my drift." The two mischievous partners snickered evilly.

"So I hope you all enjoy your night, if you have any questions or complaints, my colleague will be able to address it." Wario said, pointing at an old toad with a black mustache who was playing roulette on a different table without a care in the world.

"_Why didn't I fire this guy already?"_ he thought to himself.

"Anyway, we'll catch you guys later." Wario and Waluigi both gave small salutes to the group before leaving.

Not long later, a Lakitu arrived at their table, "Your royalties, I'll be your card dealer for tonight. So is there any game you want to start with?"

"If it isn't too much of a bother, me and Queen Bean have expressed interest in starting with Poker. That is, if you two tend to agree?'' King Bob-omb questioned King Boo and Wart.

King Boo seemed joyful at the option, "Oh yeah, I'm totally up for that. What says you Wart?"

The three looked at Wart, who was rubbing his chin, pondering the question.

After some hard thinking, he gave a small grin, "Poker seems like a good start. Shall we begin?"

* * *

_**Present Time**_

Wendy has never been to a Luxury Casino before, but once she opened those doors and got a good first look of the place, she kind of wished she had.

The whole place was beautiful, an ice crystal chandelier sparkled on the ceiling, almost every square inch looked like it was covered in gold. The walls, the floor, the slot machines!

_Is there anything here that wasn't coated with the element?_

Since this was a Friday night, the whole place was jam packed with wealthy guests, all properly attired with suits, ties or dresses.

She scanned the area starting to her right, where dozens of slot machines were placed, more than three quarters of them already in use by other guests. To the center was a whole bunch of large roulette tables, every single one fully occupied.

She turned her head to the left and saw a large bar properly set in place, as someone might go there to drink in celebration of winning big or drink in despair and sorrow after losing it all.

She spotted a green Shy Guy setting bottles of wine, tequila, scotch, and many more kinds of alcoholic beverages on a small cart. Wendy immediately recognized him to be Sergeant Guy, she nodded at his direction when he noticed her, he returned the notion, understanding that the heist is currently underway.

To the left of the bar was the V.I.P room, a miniature space with a couple tables reserved to only those of greater importance. Wendy caught sight of the four royals, all looking to be in an intense game of baccarat from her point of view.

From the looks of it, King Boo was winning considerably as he held the most amount of chips at his disposal, trailing behind him was Queen Bean followed by King Bob-omb. King Wart on the other hand wasn't having the best of luck, as he has the fewest amount of chips out of everyone there.

Wart's irritated expression caused Wendy to instinctively shudder, a fearful and panicked feeling crawling all over her body.

She quickly headed to the slot machines before the large frog could notice her, taking the one at the far right corner.

Every spin of the slot machine cost one gold coin. Luckily, she brought some change with her, twenty gold coins to be exact.

She decided to do one spin every minute, giving a window of twenty minutes for Larry and Captain Boo to complete the first phase.

_Wonder how they're doing…_

* * *

"Eeeeek! I feel it crawling on my ass!"

Larry shook his tail in a desperate attempt to get rid of whatever bug was crawling on him. Captain Boo and him were squirming their way inside the air vents to the security room, all while being swarmed on by insects in a ventilation system that hasn't been cleaned in ages.

"Dude, you need to chill. They might hear us." Captain Boo warned Larry.

"Easy for you to say! These little monsters can't crawl on you!"

He then felt an unbearable itch on his head and began scratching his Mohawk, hoping it would get rid of the itch or whatever else was getting cozy on his hair.

_I'm totally taking a long shower after this…_

After three excruciating minutes of more crawling, they arrived at an opening. Peeking below revealed that this was indeed the Security room, where they saw a Monty Mole passed out in front of numerous screens displaying different angles of the Casino.

"Do we have to knock this dude out, cause he looks pretty knocked to me." Captain Boo whispered to him.

While the prospect of ditching a step was tempting to Larry, it's better off to be safe than sorry.

"We got to be smart about this Cap, if we leave him like that he'll just wake up eventually."

Larry reached into his shell and pulled out a small jammer. The mini contraption was created and given to him by Iggy who spent days making it powerful enough to disable cameras at a large radius, but small enough to be put in someone's pocket.

"Once I turn this thing on, you give the guy a whack on the head before he warns the others."

"On it." Captain Boo obeyed, phasing through the vent and quietly floated closer to the mole until he was right behind him.

On cue, Larry turned on the jammer, causing all the cameras to lose signal to the mainframe as the screens became static. The lighting of the screens disturbed the Monty Mole who groggily woke up from his nap and immediately noticed the situation.

But before he could sound the alarm and warn the rest of a potential breach, a flashlight bashed on the right side of his head, the blunt force of the impact knocking him out cold.

Captain Boo grinned at the unconscious security guard, feeling quite content on accomplishing his task. He looked up at the air vent and waved at Larry to come down.

With some effort, Larry managed to push the air vent open, keeping a hold on top as he dangled a little over two feet above the ground. He prepared his footing so he could make the least possible amount of noise when he lands, a move he mastered when sneaking into multiple convenience and retail stores in the past.

He let out a deep breath and released his grip, landing quietly as a feather.

He gestured Captain Boo to follow him closely as they both progressed towards the door. With a slight twist on the knob, Larry slowly opened the door ajar, making a big enough creak to have a good view ahead without being detected.

From there he located the titanium vaults behind metal bars and two guards standing in front keeping an eye around. From what he could tell, the Hammer Bro was casually talking to the Sledge Bro besides him, the former looking rather annoyed at him.

He closed his eyes and leaned his head a nudge closer, hearing slight portions of what the one guard is saying.

"- like can you believe Mister Wario is entrusting just us to watch over the vaults and the whole second floor. I'm telling you man, I smell a promotion coming."

The plump Sledge Bro rolled his eyes at the young cadet, finding his enthusiasm and optimism very irritating. To be fair, he was like that in his first weeks working here after defecting from the Darklands. He thought he was going to be promoted since it seemed that Wario had a lot of trust in him.

But that was ten years ago and he is still in guard duty, the same damn position he had since the beginning. Hence why he scoffs at his partners dreamy fantasy.

_I should've stayed in Bowser's army, at least I did something more than just stand around._

He however didn't want to break the guy's heart, so he tried to be cautious about what he says to him.

"Whatever you say kid, just… try not to think too big, okay?"

"Okay."

Seeing that the conversation between the two had ceased, Larry reached into his shell and pulled out his wand.

"Cap, when I knock the Hammer Bro with a sleeping spell you rush towards the big guy and possess his body, got it?"

Captain Boo nodded at the order, getting ready to charge at the Sledge Bro, "I'm ready Master Larry."

With two hands, Larry aimed his wand at the head of the young guard. He whispered a sleeping spell and watched the orange orb at the tip begin to brighten.

"Sleep tight, parasite."

The wand blasted a projectile towards the unsuspecting guard, the feverous head-shot knocking the poor fellow down to the ground.

The Sledge Bro gasped in horror after seeing his young partner knocked unconscious and laying on the floor. He gritted his teeth in fury and took his hammer out from his own shell, getting ready to bash the head of the attacker.

When he turned around however, he was startled at seeing a Boo charging right at him. His reflexes were too slow as Captain Boo entered inside his body. The sledge Bro relinquished the hammer and dropped to the floor on his knees, his whole frame convulsing as the Boo and his own soul battled it out for the full motor control of his body.

After several minutes of twitching, everything came to a stop as the Sledge Bro slowly rose back up on its feet. Larry cautiously walked closer to him, not too sure if Captain Boo was the one in control.

"Um… Captain Boo… you there buddy?"

The sledge Bro's eyes flicked towards Larry's direction, before looking down on itself. He raised his arms and looked at them in amazement, flicking them around before he began patting the rest of his body.

He looked back at Larry and smiled warmly, until a growling noise came from his stomach. He gagged a bit before he vomited heavily on the floor, Larry's quick reflexes barely managed to move out of the way.

The chubby guard coughed for a bit, rubbing his large tummy in an attempt to soothe the nausea, "Oh gawd, this dude needs to lose some weight."

Larry chuckled at his teammate's dismay, cheerful that he managed to possess the rotund guard in the first place. He made way to the unconscious Hammer Bro and detached the card from his utility belt.

"Bingo! Alright, you scan your card on one end while I scan mine on the other." He told Captain Boo who weakly nodded his head, still adjusting to his new body frame.

He slowly trudged towards the left scanner as Larry waited patiently to scan his on the right. The bars only open when the cards are scanned simultaneously.

They readied their cards and counted to three before scanning, the metal bars automatically opened as the cards were scanned successfully at the same time.

Larry malevolently rubbed his hands together, feeling really good as they are officially one step closer to hitting the jackpot, all he needs now is the smartphone.

He pressed on the earpiece in his ear, "Wendy, Sergeant Guy, phase one is complete. Now initiate phase two."

* * *

Upon hearing confirmation from his higher up, Sergeant Guy turned on Larry's smartphone and opened the data retrieval app before casually placing it under an empty vodka bottle. He began to steer the wine cart towards the Royals table in the V.I.P area.

When he arrived at the location, he saw the four enthralled in a deep conversation together, he casually parked the cart behind Wart, close enough for Larry's phone to be able to collect Wart's cellular data.

"Would any of you care for a drink?" He politely asked the group.

"The finest scotch you have good sir!" King Bob-omb proclaimed.

King Boo laid his sight on the cart, looking at the many options of beverages, "I'll just take a cold beer for now."

"Oh my! Ain't you the cutest little thing I've ever seen!" Queen Bean gushed at him.

"You wouldn't mind making me a margarita sweetie?"

"Not at all Ma'am, your margarita will be given to you shortly."

He turned to King Wart, "Would you like a drink your highness?"

"Surprise me."

"As you wish.", Sergeant Guy accepted his challenge, looking forward to blowing him away with his killer homemade Dry Martini, a tasty specialty for all those who drink it, if he says so himself.

As he prepared their drinks, the group resumed their conversation, unaware that he was secretly keeping close tabs on them.

"So what is this big plan you've been spouting about, because we're all dying to know." King Boo asked Wart.

"Well if you all really want to know,_ *ribbit*_ I'll gladly tell you."

Everyone leaned in a little closer,

"You all know about the little mountain range that my army has been battling with Bowser's for months? When the sun rises again tomorrow, _*ribbit*_ I plan to launch an all out chemical attack at every single one of his bases."

Sergeant Guy nearly dropped the bottle of beer he was holding, horrified at what Wart just let out of his mouth. The others were left in awe at the large amphibian's threat.

"You-you're serious?" King Bob-omb cautiously queried.

"Dead Serious. You see, Bowser sent in more reinforcements to the mountain range, therefore leaving his other bases unprotected. _*ribbit*_ If the attack is a success, his army will suffer a horrific loss that they'll never recover from." King Wart conceited with a large grin.

"And then what?" King Boo implored as Sergeant Guy handed him his uncorked beer.

Wart's grin grew wider, "Then I'll just sit and watch Bowser surrender his Kingdom to me. I'll let him rot in the dungeon _*ribbit*_ but keep him alive, just so he can see all his minions and children as my slaves."

The whole table went silent, not one person moved a single muscle as they were all unsure on what to say or do after hearing his statement. The card dealer and Sergeant Guy who was standing by King Bob-omb with his glass of scotch, didn't dare to move.

A small clap was heard, all heads turning to King Bob-omb as he began applauding, King Boo and Queen Bean soon following suit. The small applause soon became a loud cheer that was heard at the other side of the Casino.

King Bob-omb stood up from his chair and snatched the glass of scotch from Sergeant Guy's grasp, "Here, Here! To the fall of the Koopa Kingdom!"

He chugged the whole cup in one gulp before slamming the glass down on the table.

King Bob-omb used to be an associate of Bowser not that long ago, even going as far in calling him a friend. But that all changed when their partnership began to turn sour.

Bowser was indeed a ruthless King with a large powerful army at his disposal, but that didn't change the fact that he was a moron. What once was a prideful mission in trying to take full control of the Mushroom Kingdom now became a sad quest for the Koopa King in trying to impress and marry the blonde Princess.

It didn't help either that time after time again, they'll lose to a pair of plumbers and their fungus friends.

He lost so many Bob-ombs in this embarrassing war that he had about enough of Bowser's nonsense. He wasn't alone in this sentiment either as King Boo sided with him on the Koopa's incompetence.

Seeking to end their partnership, the two barged into his throne room and handed him their resignation letters, officially defecting their personal army of henchmen from any involvement with the Koopa Troop. The large orb couldn't help but yell some profanities in old English towards Bowser before leaving.

His defection also came with a chunk of land in the Western part of the Darklands, but he had to give that away since Bowser sent Junior and the Koopalings to reclaim the territory.

While he had no real quarrel with the young ones, they were all too brainwashed in Darklandian pride to be reasoned with.

With no where else to go, he seeked refuge in King Boo's paranormal dimension, a place no ruler, no matter how mad, dared tried to take over.

However, they were both weak by themselves, they needed a strong ally on their side. So when the opportunity arose to befriend King Wart and Queen Bean in a friendly meeting of playing Casino games, they took it without hesitation.

"Oooh, Wart sugah, I do really hope your plan works. That no good Bowser has caused nothing but trouble to the world and my good friend Peach." Queen Bean exclaimed before thanking Sergeant Guy for making her margarita.

While she wasn't that keen on King Wart or any of the others, at least they were better company to be around than a certain spiked shell monarch.

As the Queen of the Beanbean Kingdom and a strong ally to Princess Peach and the Mushroom Kingdom, the friendship or favorability with Bowser and the Darklands were basically non existent.

She loathed him along with his little brats for the countless kidnappings and takeovers they've pulled throughout the years. But she couldn't do much about it, the Koopa Troop was too big for her own army and son Peasley to fight.

But after hearing of King Wart's rise to dominance and current feud with Bowser, she decided to seek a partnership with him. With the help of the Mario Brothers, she got in touch with Wario to set up a private meeting in his Casino.

King Wart wasn't gonna be an easy person to convince, so she tried the old school way with a bit of flirting, but he didn't budge. Guess she wasn't really his type.

Money was definitely out of the question since he had a large influx of it, his kingdom having twice the amount of wealth than her own.

In an attempt to stop him from leaving, she asked him what exactly he desired so she can do whatever she can to fulfill it. He went on about taking over the world (the usual bad guy stuff), and seeking revenge on Bowser for rejecting his offer. She recalled hearing him mumble about a "Wendy" or some girl every once in a while in his tirade, but It was offly difficult to understand him when he was angrily spouting dozens of words every second.

So she offered him a proposal, stating that she'll hand him locations of rumored chemicals that if made correctly can create deadly weapons unlike any other. This caught his attention, looking rather pleased at the idea of chemical warfare, they both shook hands as the deal was set.

In order to keep this deal a secret, they formed a plan to disguise a war meeting as a friendly game of cards among uncommon friends, sort of like how the Mario Bros. would invite Bowser to their parties or kart races.

But instead, only high ranking guests were invited to this monthly event in Wario's Casino, in which they handsomely pay him to keep his mouth shut. The pudgy man and his skinny friend unknowingly providing them a safe space to pass secrets between each other.

Among hearing about this "friendly card game" from their trusted sources, King Boo and King Bob-omb voluntarily joined them thus creating a strong group seeking the fall of King Bowser and his kingdom.

However, not everyone wanted to join. Numerous Monarchs and High ranking politicians rejected their invitation, including Princess Rosalina, Mayor Pauline, King K. Rool and much to her surprise, Princess Peach.

She begged her to join as this was the one chance to get rid of the damn Koopa once and for all, but she wouldn't budge, stating that she doesn't want to harm him, his family or his citizens and would rather seek a more peaceful resolution in resolving the matter.

Queen Bean scoffed at Peach's kindness, the girl was too friendly for her own good. It's almost like she likes having Bowser kidnap her every once in a while.

"Anyway, I'm gonna head to the restroom, I'll be back soon." She stood from her chair and gave Sergeant Guy her empty glass before walking away.

"Same here gents, the scotch has given me the motivation to go now, I shall return shortly." King Bob-omb said as he headed to the men's restroom.

Sergeant Guy collected his glass and returned to the wine cart, placing the two glass cups at the bottom of it so it could be cleaned later.

He lifted the empty vodka bottle to check on the progress of the data collection, the phone screen showing that it was 85 percent done. Looking to buy some time, he decided to stall a bit while making Wart's dry martini.

"My apologies King Wart, but your dry martini might take a bit." He told him.

King Wart waved his hand dismissively, not showing any anger towards the shy guy, "That's quite alright,_ *ribbit*_ you can't rush perfection."

King Boo shook his beer bottle in his hand as he watched the leftover liquid swivel around. He could finish it now, but there was a nagging question in his head regarding Wart's proclamation.

"King Wart, can I ask you something?" He questioned him, setting his unfinished beer on the table.

"You said that if this plan succeeds and Bowser surrenders, you were gonna make his children your slaves… What are you gonna do to them?"

While it was true that he and Bowser were no longer on friendly terms anymore, he does somewhat have a soft spot for his kids as he used to watch over them sometimes when their father was busy. They were indeed rude, rowdy and hard to control, but they were kids.

King Wart rubbed his chin as he pondered King Boo's question, "I'll mostly keep the boys around as my minions, _*ribbit*_ basically make them do a lot of dirty work around the Castle for all of eternity. If they don't comply, a bit of torture will change their minds real quick, and if that doesn't work, _*ribbit*_ I'll threaten to kill their father, all of them basically looks at him like a god. As for the girl however-"

King Wart laughed sinisterly, "I'm gonna make her marry me."

King Boo looked down at his beer again, staring at it aimlessly.

"And if she doesn't want to?"

"Oh she will, because if she dares reject me, _*ribbit*_ I'll bring all her brother's in and force her to watch their untimely demise." he finished as he slid a finger on his throat.

Sergeant Guy shook in fear after hearing what Wart said, when all this is over, he'll immediately contact Kamek and warn him about the incoming chemical attacks on their bases. The faith of Lord Bowser and the future of the Koopa Kingdom depended on it.

He quickly checked the phone again and was beyond relieved seeing the whole process is complete, good timing too, because he finished making the Dry Martini for King Wart.

He carefully picked up the drink and handed it to him, "Your drink your majesty."

"Why, thank you little one."

Wart gently shook the drink before drinking it all in one gulp, letting out a sigh of satisfaction upon finishing it.

"Mmm, fantastic work,_ *ribbit* _you really outdid it." He complimented Sergeant Guy while handing him back the empty glass.

"Thank you sir, now as y'all excuse me, I'm going to take the cart to the other guests."

He bid farewell before making a hasty retreat towards Wendy, Master Larry has informed him that she'll be waiting for him by the slot machines. He looked back and saw King Bob-omb and Queen Bean return to their seats as the four prepared for a new card game.

However, with him looking back and the lack of attention towards what was in front of him, he accidentally crashed into another worker with the cart.

"Watch where you're going Charlie!" The worker yelled at him.

"I'm sorry." Sergeant Guy meekly apologized.

After the awkward collision, he looked straight at the slot machine area, trying his best to find Wendy among the crowd. He finally spotted her at the far corner and began driving the cart to her location. Unbeknownst to him however, the phone he was supposed to give Wendy, has dropped on the floor.

* * *

In a fit of frustration, Wendy kicked the slot machine after spending her last gold coin. She's been playing this stupid game for twenty minutes, every damn turn she was one away from matching all three slots, but no, luck wasn't on her side.

_Grrr… damn ripoff, what a waste of twenty coins._

At least her time here wasn't a total loss, during her games, some older gentlemen came up to her, complimented her looks and asked her if she wanted a drink with them. She was touched at their attempts, but politely declined their requests. She'll give them credit though, they did indeed boost her confidence by tenfold.

_You other princesses better watch out, cause this one… is spicy._

"Mistress Wendy, I'm here."

She turned to her right and smiled once upon seeing a green shy guy parking the cart next to her.

"Sergeant Guy, you made it! Got the phone on you?"

He nodded his head excitedly, "Yes Ma'am, I have it right here."

He lifted the empty vodka bottle where the phone would supposedly be and froze when he realized it wasn't there anymore. He frantically searched under every single bottle and under the tray of dirty glasses, hoping that he may have just misplaced the phone around. A look of dread came upon his masked face when he couldn't find it anywhere.

"Uh oh." he muttered.

A nervous feeling started to creep on Wendy, "What do you mean by uh oh?"

"It's not here." Sergeant Guy murmured to her.

She wanted to scream, they were halfway complete and now the phone was missing.

"_**Yo guys! What's the holdup? We've been waiting here for a while."**_ Larry asked through the earpiece.

She pushed a finger on the device, "Bad news, the phone is lost."

"_**WHAT!"**_

Wendy and Sergeant Guy recoiled in pain as Larry shrieked into their ears.

"_**The hell you mean you lost it!"**_

"I-I'm sorry Master Larry, I could've sworn the phone was on the cart, I swear I checked it before I left and bumped into-" Sergeant Guy let out a loud gasp upon realizing the phone's possible whereabouts.

"I know where it is! It probably dropped on the floor near the V.I.P Area, if I rush back I can get-"

He wasn't able to finish the sentence as a booming voice called him.

"Hey Charlie! Get your butt over to the center! The patron's been waiting for drinks for ages!" An old Toad with a sleazy moustache yelled at Sergeant Guy.

He looked back and forth between him and Wendy, conflicted on what he's supposed to do.

"It's alright, I'll get the phone." Wendy assured him.

The green shy guy weakly nodded at her before taking the cart to the center of the Casino. Once he left, she quickly headed near the V.I.P area. It didn't take too long to find the smartphone as it was casually laying on the floor, she was completely flabbergasted that no one noticed it or tried to pick it up.

But before Wendy sought after the phone, she stopped in her tracks when she caught a glimpse of Wart, who was looking at his cards, unaware that she was staring straight at him. The last thing she wanted was for him to spot her.

_Come on Wendy, he isn't looking this way. Man the hell up and get the phone._

After much inner debate, she forced herself to walk towards the device, grabbed it and placed it inside her shell. But before she could rush to the ladies restroom, she made the horrible mistake of looking up.

Her blood ran cold when she saw Wart staring right at her, a large wicked smile dawned upon his face.

_Oh shit! Oh shit!_

Wendy was in full panic mode right now, she quickly turned around and attempted to escape, but stopped as she felt something tugging her back. She turned her face back and gasped in horror when she saw Wart had extended his tongue to the back of her shell.

Before she knew it, her whole body was lunged back, landing straight into the frogs arms.

"Well, Well. _*ribbit* _Look what we have here." He said, while holding Wendy tightly in his grasp.

"Wendy?" King Boo and Bob-omb uttered simultaneously, confused at seeing the young koopaling here.

"Oh my, girl, love the necklace." Queen Bean complimented her.

"I'll be back my friends, me and Wendy _*ribbit*_ have some important business to discuss." Wart said as he got up from his chair and headed towards the back, all while carrying a frightened Wendy in his arms.

She snapped out of her scared state and was about to scream for help, but Wart covered her mouth before she could utter a sound.

"Scream for help and I'll kill you." He warned her.

As he leaped through an empty hallway, he came across a janitor's closet and knocked on the door in order to see if someone was inside. When he heard no response, he turned the knob to check if it was unlocked and sure enough it opened.

Once he was inside the clustered room, he quickly shut the door before he grabbed Wendy by the neck and slammed her against the wall. She let out a whimper as the force of the impact caused her to lose some air.

"What are you doing here girl?" Wart sneered, gritting his teeth in anger.

Wendy's eyes were wide as saucers as she looked back at Wart in pure terror.

"_**Wendy! Are you alright! Talk to me Sis!"**_ She heard Larry scream through the earpiece.

Wart must have heard him as he turned her head to the side and found the earpiece in her ear. He took it out and placed it on his own, fully able to hear Larry's cries through it.

This made him beyond furious, he took off the earpiece and crushed the device between his fingers. Wendy could only watch the pieces fall to the ground.

"Are you _*ribbit*_ trying to steal from me!" His poisonous gaze pierced straight at her.

Wendy began to sweat profusely seeing that Wart was able to put two and two together very quickly, "N-No! Not at all, I swea-"

"DON'T YOU LIE TO ME! I SWEAR ONCE I GET MY HANDS ON YOUR BROTHER, _*RIBBIT*_ I'LL MAKE YOU BOTH WISH YOU NEVER TRIED!" He spat at her.

This was bad, Not only did Wart know about the plan, but Larry and the others are now in danger.

"W-Wait! Please don't!" She pleaded.

"And why shouldn't I?"

Wendy thought hard for an excuse, trying to think of something to keep him from warning his minions and security about the whole operation. There was one thing she knew she could offer him, but she dreaded thinking about it.

She then remembered what she told Larry when they were on the airship.

"_**I promise you, I'll do everything I can to make it right."**_

Wendy froze as that one sentence kept repeating in her head.

_I-I promised…_

She looked down with a dejected look, knowing what she has to do now. She really didn't want to do this, but her brother's safety was more important.

_I'm sorry Larry._

"King Wart, you're right, me and my brother tried to steal your two million gold coins tonight. I apologize for it, but I desperately needed money to pay off some debt I owe. Please, I beg you, don't harm my brother, just let him escape with the coins."

Watt squeezed her throat even tighter, "and why should I let him go?"

She was finding it harder to breathe, his tight grip blocking some air from entering her respiratory system.

"Because I'll accept your offer." She sputtered.

Wart's grip around her throat loosened up, his angry expression quickly changing into one of utter shock. He leaned his face in closer to hers, merely a couple inches away from physically touching.

"What offer?" He asked.

She felt his breath on her face, trying her best not to gag at the smell of it.

"Back then, when you visited the castle, you were gonna give up the mountain range for only one thing in return. If you let Larry go with the coins, I'll-"

She sighed loudly, "I'll let you have me."

Wart stared at her in silence for a while before he started chuckling, the chuckling growing louder by the second.

"That's why I love you sweetheart, _*ribbit*_ acting very mature and making your own decisions for your age."

He began to gently rub her arm, taking long strokes as he began to feel her skin rub against his hand.

"You are everything I love in someone special. _*ribbit*_ Smart, rebellious-" He leaned in, pressed his nose against her chest and sniffed her, all while Wendy tried her best to not to throw up as he breathed in her scent.

Once he stopped his act, he groaned loudly, his eyes rolling to the back of his head, undeniably satisfied with the sweet aroma that went through his nostrils.

"- _**young.**_" Wart finished, looking back at her with a lustful grin.

Wendy however, looked down in a defeated expression, her body falling limp in his grasp after agreeing to give herself to him.

"While the idea to conceive you right now _*ribbit*_ in this closet is rather tempting, I consider myself more of a traditionalist."

He set her down and reached inside his fur cape. He pulled out a small box before kneeling in front of Wendy.

"I've been saving this for a long time, _*ribbit*_ just for this moment." He opened the box, revealing a shiny diamond ring inside.

"With this ring, I now claim you forever as the love of my life." He took it out, lifted her hand a bit and gently placed the ring on her finger.

He smiles softly as he gazed at her with the ring, stroking her face gently.

"Do you accept,_ *ribbit*_ my lovely wife?"

She looked down at the shiny ring, staring aimlessly at her reflection. If she does accept his proposal, she will have to say goodbye to everyone she knew.

Larry, Ludwig, Roy, Morton, Lemmy, Iggy, Junior, Lord Bowser. She won't be able to see them again.

Tears spilled from her eyes as she reluctantly nodded her head, "I do."

Wart grinned from ear to ear upon hearing her, "Atta girl."

He wiped her tears away with his finger before kissing her on the cheek. "Don't cry Wendy, I'll give you _*ribbit*_ everything you ever want."

Wendy sniffled a bit before responding, "Okay."

"Great! Now, let's share the good news to the others." Wart said as he grabbed her arm and left the closet.

While dragging her through the empty hallway, she attempted to pull away.

"Wait!" She yelled at him to stop.

King Wart immediately seized and looked back at her, not so happy that she ordered him to halt.

"Before we go, Can I at least say goodbye to Larry? Please!" Wendy begged him.

Wart however was skeptical at the idea, "How do I know if this isn't just a ploy for you to escape?"

"It isn't, I promise I'll return to you."

Wart looked at her in silence until he relented, "Oh alright, _*ribbit*_ just make it quick."

"Thank you."

She turned around and headed straight for the ladies bathroom, that is until Wart spoke behind her.

"If you end up lying to me _*ribbit*_ and ditch me here, well, I'll be quite saddened that my wife rejected me, but lucky for me, I have… _alternatives._"

Wendy stopped in her tracks when she heard that, turning back at him with a disturbed look.

"What did you say?"

"Back then, _*ribbit*_ When I visited the Castle, there was this little rainbow haired one that always blocked me from getting close to you. Let's just say I grew quite… fond of him over time. _*ribbit*_ While he is a bit small for my taste, I did find him to be rather… _**cute.**_" He expressed while licking his lips.

Wendy's whole body bristled in anger as she stomped towards him

"You keep your hands away from Lemmy." She sneered.

"Then I ask you to choose wisely, my dear." Wart snickered before hopping away.

She watched him turn the corner before disappearing, all while giving him a venomous stare to the back of his head.

_Disgusting perverted bastard…_

She returned to the janitor closet, picking up an out of order sign before going to the restroom where the air vent was supposed to be located.

She placed the sign in front of the bathroom door before entering, doing it as a precaution so no one would wander in for a bit.

Upon entering the relatively clean restroom, she heard some banging along with small grunts coming from the stall in the far corner.

"Come on. Open damn it."

Wendy immediately recognized the voice to be Larry's, she rushed inside the stall and sure enough, she saw him inside the air vent trying to open it.

"Wendy!" He beamed when he saw her.

"Larry!" She quickly kneeled in front of the latch and with enough strength opened it for him to come inside.

The two rapidly wrapped themselves in a tight embrace as Wendy lifted her little brother a few inches from the floor, nuzzling his head in an act of sisterly affection.

"Oh thank goodness! I thought something happened to you." Larry told her, relieved at seeing her after losing connection with her earpiece.

"Did you get the phone?" He asked after letting each other go.

Wendy reached inside her shell and took out the cracked but still functional device.

"Yes I do, here you go." She said while handing it to him.

"Yes! We're home free Sis, let's go!"

Larry ran inside the vent and began to crawl upwards to the security room. However, he seized advancing when he saw Wendy wasn't following him. He slid back down to the bathroom as he saw Wendy was still standing at the same place as before.

"Wendy? What's wrong?"

She looked down at the floor, twiddling her fingers as she prepared to tell Larry the bad news.

"I- I can't leave."

Larry looked at her like she completely lost it, "What do you mean by that?"

"Wart caught me Larry, he knows about the heist."

Larry eyes went wide before he closed them and clutched his head, feeling a headache coming in.

_Damn it! Damn it!_

"But he agreed to let you go with the money… on one condition."

Larry opened his eyes and gasped when Wendy showed him the ring on her finger.

"Wendy, no. Please tell me you didn't."

She looked at him with a saddened gaze, "I had to Larry, he was going to hurt you if I didn't."

"Don't be ridiculous Sis! Like are you insane, you are not going with that creep!" Larry grabbed her hand and attempted to drag her with him.

"Come on Wendy, we're almost done, let's just go home!" He pleaded.

Wendy just solemnly watched Larry's feeble attempt at taking her as he wasn't strong enough to move her an inch from where she stood.

"Larry, I'm… not going home. I have to go with him."

"No! I won't let you!" He angrily spat at her, pulling her hand even harder.

Wendy couldn't take it anymore, if he kept this up she was going to break down in tears. She grabbed his arm and pulled it away from her hand.

"Bro, listen to me! You're gonna go back up there and finish the job! Capiche!" She ordered keeping a hold of his arm.

"But-But…"

"And you'll head back to the Castle and tell Kamek and the rest that the heist was a success. You'll get praised by everyone while the minions who were part of this, will get the promotion and respect they deserve."

"What about you!?"

"As long as my brothers are safe, I'll be fine. Now go before security catches you here."

She turned around to leave the restroom before pausing to tell Larry one last thing.

"When you get to the Castle… tell Lord Bowser, Ludwig and the others… thank you… for everything." She sadly said before walking away.

"Wendy-"

"JUST GO!" She yelled at Larry who recoiled in response before going back inside the vent to return upstairs.

After seeing him leave, she headed to the bathroom sink and splashed some water on her face as some of her makeup began leaking.

She stared at her reflection in the mirror, not really feeling the need to fix her makeup again, but she knew Wart… her husband, wouldn't be that thrilled at seeing her disheveled.

So she took out her little makeup kit she packed in her shell and slowly started adjusting her looks. First by cleaning the leaked spots before applying more eyeliner and lipstick.

Once finished, she looked herself in the mirror one last time before leaving the restroom. As she wandered towards where Wart and the three other royals were sitting, she decided to look back at the good times she had with her family.

She'll miss playing video games with Larry whenever she had the time, chasing Morton throughout the Castle as she specifically told him not to eat her hot pocket she left in the fridge, the loving hugs Lemmy would give her every day whenever he sees her.

While Iggy's strange nature impeded her from forming a strong bond between the two, she'll admit that his hyper antics and his cute chain chomp always bring a warm smile to her face.

She'll miss finding any reason to slap Roy around, playfully annoy Ludwig by blasting modern music from her phone, music in which he claims to be _"an abomination to the arts"_, and watch Junior grow up and mature every day, on his way to become the future king.

But most of all, she'll miss Lord Bowser the most. Sure their relationship might be broken now, but she will always cherish the time and love he gave her throughout the years.

_Love ya Dad._

Wendy must have been really deep in thought as she realized she had arrived at the V.I.P area, Wart's table a few feet ahead of her. Taking a deep breath, she walked till she was right beside him.

He looked down at her and grinned, seeing that the female Koopaling had come to terms and accepted his proposal.

"Ah, there she is!" Wart exclaimed cheerfully, lifting Wendy up and setting her on his lap.

"My friends, I bring good news. _*ribbit*_ Me and this beautiful creature here, are going to marry soon."

He proudly said to the three.

The three Royals, especially King Boo were shocked at the unexpected news.

"R-Really?" The large Boo questioned the frog.

"Yes! The Wedding shall be enormous, my citizens will be very happy with the indoctrination of our new Queen. As for me, I'm especially pleased that soon, I'll wake up everyday _*ribbit*_ with her besides me on my bed." He said as he started caressing her right cheek while Wendy tried to pull away.

King Bob-omb and King Boo looked at the frightened Koopa, The large Bob-omb staring at her with a stoic gaze, while King Boo conveyed a saddened look.

"Well, don't forget to send us invitations to the Wedding your majesty." King Bob-omb joked while King Boo reluctantly nodded.

Queen Bean looked at Wendy, sensing the discomfort from the girl. She could see that she was offly young to be marrying the old geezer, but decided to ignore it since it was one of Bowser's little brats from what she remembered.

_Young Lady probably begged Wart to marry her._

"Aw, I think the two of you are an adorable couple, the Beanbean kingdom will gladly welcome both of you to enjoy your honeymoon there."

"Thank you, your highness, _*ribbit*_ I for one can't wait to enjoy it with my lovely wife."

He leaned down and began rubbing his nose to the back of Wendy's neck.

"I especially can't wait to finally see what's under that shell." He whispered in her ear.

Wendy shuddered at his declaration, but couldn't do anything about it.

The card dealer grabbed the attention of everyone on the table, "Apologize for cutting in, but what do you all wish to play now?"

"How about we let my Wendy decide." Wart chimed.

She wanted to retreat in her shell as all eyes looked at her for an answer.

"Um… how about… blackjack?" She muttered.

They kept staring at her that she thought they were completely against the option, until Wart spoke up.

"That's a great idea! _*ribbit*_ Dealer, you heard the lady! Get a move on!"

The Lakitu did as ordered, quickly giving the four of them two cards each including himself.

* * *

Captain Boo continued to look left and right in the hallway as he waited for Master Larry and Mistress Wendy to arrive so they could start taking the bags of coins to the roof.

As he waited by the vaults, he heard a thump coming from the Security room. Larry would emerge from there looking rather pissed, on second glance, he noticed Wendy wasn't with him.

"Master Larry, where's Mistress Wendy?" He asked him, raising his eyebrow.

"She ain't coming, now come help me with the bags." Larry angrily told him while scanning the smartphone and opening the large vault.

He was taken aback by Larry's blunt response, "What do you mean-"

"Shut up and help me!" He cut him off before he could finish.

Not wanting to push it, Captain Boo did as ordered as the two rapidly dragged all the bags to the security room before dumping the bodies of the Hammer Bro and Monty Mole inside Wart's vault. They immediately closed everything off, including the metal bars and returned below the open air vent.

Since he was still in the body of the Sledge Bro, Captain Boo tossed the coin bags to Larry who jumped up to the ventilation system, as one by one, he pulled the bags and set them on the roof. When the last bag was tossed, Captain Boo forced himself out of the Sledge Bro, who's whole body fell limp, and followed Larry.

Once the two of them managed to get on the roof of the Casino, Larry called Corporal Paraplonk, telling him to drop the large basket down. Both looked up at the skies and spotted it being slowly pulleyed down, they waited approximately three minutes until it landed in front of them. Dozens of sacs were tossed inside before Larry and Captain Boo hopped in.

They were slowly lifted back up to the airship as Larry let out a sigh of relief, pleased that the heist was complete and that no one was outside the Casino seeing them being raised to the skies. Three minutes later, they finally arrived aboard the airship, throwing all the bags on the deck before letting themselves out from the basket.

Corporal Paraplonk flapped his way towards them, confused that there was no sign of Wendy.

"Master Larry, where is Mistress Wendy?"

Larry gritted his teeth, he was tired of being repeated the same question.

"Heist's over, fly us home."

"But-But sir… "

Larry towered over the paratroopa, showing his fangs and claws in pure anger.

"I SAID… MOVE!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

The corporal cowered in fear, quickly heading towards the steering wheel. The aircraft soon started flying away from the Casino, growing smaller and smaller as the airship went farther away.

Larry fought the urge to turn back as two voices began bickering in his head.

_You gotta go back._

_**Like hell you do! Heist was a success, there's no need to go back.**_

_But we have to save Wendy!_

_**First of all, she got caught and almost ruined everything. Second, she chose to stay.**_

_That still doesn't make it right!_

_**You don't get it, do you!? For once we managed to not screw up, do you want to be a worthless failure again!? Huh, do you loser!?**_

Larry began hitting his head, trying to get the voices to stop.

… _She's our Sister._

His body froze when that thought came across. Wendy, his own sister who practically raised him when he was a cub, who is probably being groped by that Wart creep right now, and here he is running away like a coward.

"Corporal! Turn us around NOW!" Larry shouted at the minion.

"Yes Sir!" Corporal Paraplonk happily obliged, turning the ship back towards the Casino.

Larry surveyed the deck, trying to see if his brother Iggy placed a weapon around powerful enough to blow through a wall. Since this airship was designed for stealth operations, the amount of fire power was limited, this was confirmed when Larry found a singular canon with only one cannonball of ammo.

_Better make it count… Don't worry Big Sister… I'm coming._

* * *

"With a ten and an ace, Queen Bean is the winner." The card dealer declared as Queen Bean squealed in delight after winning chunks of chips.

"Welp, you can't win them all, _*ribbit*_ can you sweetie?" Wart nudged Wendy who was still sitting in his lap. She flinched when she felt Wart begin rubbing her knee with his hand.

"How about one more game and we call it a night, what ya say chaps?" King Bob-omb asked the rest.

"If this is our last, then I'm going all in." Wart declared pushing all of his chips to the center.

"Oooh, do or die, I like that." Queen Bean voiced before everyone pushed their chips in.

King Boo stayed quiet for most of the blackjack session, taking slight glances at Wendy's direction every once in a while. He really wanted to say something, but couldn't muster the courage to try.

Wendy stared aimlessly at the floor as Wart continued rubbing her knee. She looked behind towards the bar and spotted Sergeant Guy putting more drinks on the wine cart staring back at her, looking rather glum.

She knew the green Shy Guy was kicking himself inside, thinking that it was his fault that she got caught. She gave him a warm smile, mentally telling him that it was alright and that there were no hard feelings between the two.

While sure, her freedom is now stripped away as her future is now that of a housewife and breeding toy for the large frog, she tried to look at some positives in this predicament. She no longer has to worry about the college debt anymore seeing that Wart will gladly pay it off, at least she has one thing to look forward to.

Wendy snapped back to attention when she felt Wart rub her left hip, giving it slight squeezes all while letting out small groans. He began to slowly rub higher as his hand was getting dangerously close to her nether regions. Just when he was a few centimeters away, out of pure instinct, she slapped it away.

She winced when he heard Wart growl in anger, thinking quickly, she whispered in his ear, "Not here. When we return to your Castle, I'll let you do whatever you want with me."

This seemed to satisfy the King as he grinned at her before leaning down and giving her a wet kiss on the lips. Wendy could do nothing but reluctantly kiss back.

All of a sudden, a loud bang was heard as the roof of the Casino was blasted open, leaving a large hole where an airship emerged. The Casino went into full panic mode as guests ran towards every exit possible. A rope connected to the ship was thrown down and dangled several feet in front of Wendy.

"WENDY! GRAB ON!" she heard Larry yell from above.

Without a minute to lose, she reeled her fist back and punched Wart straight at his genitals. The large frog groaned in absolute agony as Wendy ran towards the rope and grabbed it tightly.

Seeing that she got a hold of it, Larry yelled at the Corporal to fly out, "Corporal! She's got it, let's go!"

The airship began to gain altitude as Wendy was getting lifted away. However, Wart gained his senses and pierced his gaze straight at her.

"YOU STUPID LITTLE GIRL!" He seethed before extending his tongue towards her shell.

Wendy felt a tug as Wart's tongue successfully managed to reach its target. At the same time, Casino security personnel and Wart's minions began shooting bullets and projectiles at the aircraft.

Larry ducked for cover as the airship started receiving heavy damages. The situation became worse as a large harpoon was shot right on the body of the ship, pulling the whole vehicle downwards. Corporal Paraplonk grimaced as he tried to pull it back up.

After looking down and seeing Wart attempt to pull Wendy towards him, Captain Boo quickly went into action, phasing below to the cabins before re-emerging with a small taser.

He rapidly floated to the female Koopaling while bullets phased through him, he turned the taser on, making sure it was at full voltage before tasing Wart's tongue.

The large frog convulsed as waves of electricity pierced throughout his body until he lost consciousness. Wendy would've been hit too if it weren't for the fact that her shell was shock proof.

Captain Boo grabbed a hold of her hand and lifted her up to the deck. Larry smiled ecstatically upon seeing her make it up safely, the moment was short lived as one of the guards shot an RPG at the side of the airship, the impact tossing the three to the floor and leaving an opening on the deck.

Larry watched helplessly as the bags of gold coins slid towards the opening before they all fell down, two million dollars worth, all gone.

"Corporal! Get us out of here!" Larry cried.

"I can't!" Corporal Paraplonk yelled back.

The harpoon from before was still stuck by the side of the ship, halting it from going anywhere.

Down below, King Boo saw that the airship couldn't move, and if Wart's minions and the security personnel continue their onslaught, it will undoubtedly fall.

He glanced at King Bob-omb who was drinking another glass of scotch, casually watching the events transfold in front of him. An idea popped on King Boo's head once he caught sight of the string on top of his head.

He snapped his fingers and spawned a match in his hands, sneaking behind the large Bob-omb before lighting the string.

_Sorry about this buddy… but it's for the greater good._

King Bob-omb immediately noticed the flame consuming it, and tried desperately to pat it dead, but his hands were too short to reach the top of his head.

"Everyone Run! He's gonna blow!" King Boo warned everyone before disappearing.

"Aight, imma head out." Queen Bean said upon seeing the ticking time bomb, she rolled her plump body towards the front doors.

The rest followed suit, Wart's minions and Security ceasing their attacks against the airship as they ran for their lives away from the building.

When King Bob-omb realized that there was no one else around to help extinguish the flame besides an unconscious Wart, he decided to just take one last shot of scotch and accept his fate.

"Gentlemen… it's been an honor." He said while raising his glass to absolutely nobody.

During this time, Wart began to stir awake and notices King Bob-omb chugging a drink as his body was flashing red, indicating that he was about to explode any second.

King Wart tried to hop away to the front doors, but it was too late as the large Bob-omb self destructed causing a huge explosion that engulfed the entire casino.

The explosive force snapped the harpoon's string as Corporal Paraplonk managed to get control of the airship again. The sonic boom of the blast helped push the aircraft away from the flames.

Wendy, Larry and Captain Boo stood up after lying on the floor and looked back at the remains of Wario's estate. The once rich structure was no more as debris and smoke was the only thing left behind.

Unbeknownst to them, a hand would appear from the rubble as King Wart hoisted himself up from the wreckage, the burned frog was covered in ash, his crown and necklace were missing and his cape was three quarters incinerated.

He looked up at the night sky and watched the wrecked airship flying away, growing smaller as it went farther away. He growled at it, gritting his teeth with fury while raging puffs of air through his nose.

"You'll pay for this Wendy. _*ribbit*_ You and your family."

* * *

_**Author notes:**_

_**So there you have it folks, now onward to the aftermath in Part 3.**_

_**Quick side note, I imagine Koopa shells are like backpacks, hence why Larry, Wendy and the other Koopalings and Koopa's pull and put a lot of stuff in it.**_

_**Also hoped you enjoyed the starring cast (including two fan favorites):**_

_**Wario & Waluigi:**__** What can I say, these two have a special place in my heart. How can I NOT include them?**_

_**King Bob-omb:**__** (Fun fact, I was writing his name wrong for years, until I was editing this chapter. Oops.) I always imagined this big guy speaking in a British accent, don't know why though, probably is the killer ass mustache.**_

_**King Boo**__**: The leader of the Boo's and ghosts, ruler of the paranormal dimension and Luigi's arch-nemesis. More like the chillest of the bunch who'll lend a hand went its most needed.**_

_**Queen Bean (Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga)**__**: Not much is known from her personality wise other than the fact she and her son are allies to the Mushroom Kingdom. So in this fic, I made her a joyful lady that is lawfully neutral, looking out for those she cares about a.k.a her friend Princess Peach.**_

_**King Wart**__**: As the official antagonist in this fic, made him a mix of both intimidating and just plainfully creepy.**_

_**Sergeant Guy (Mario & Luigi RPG)**__**: One of the members of the elite trio, which includes Corporal Paraplonk and Private Goomp. This Green Shy Guy is a clumsy one but loyal to those he serves for. (He's fine folks, little guy managed to escape the blast.)**_

_**All criticism and reviews are welcome!**_

_**Original cover art is from shinygiratinas Tumblr.**_

_**Thank you for reading!**_


	6. The Heist - Part 3

_**Before we start, I hope you're all healthy and safe, this whole outbreak thing has really shaken up well… everything. Just remember to wash your hands, keep away from large crowds and if you have protective gear, wear them while going outside. Hopefully all of this blows over soon.**_

_**With that in mind, I give you part 3, the final part of the heist arc. Hope all of you enjoy it!**_

_**(Rated T for language, alcohol use, violence and mild sexual themes.)**_

* * *

The brightness of the moon shined on the severely damaged airship as it sputtered through the night sky, the onslaught of bullets and projectiles from the altercation in the Casino nearly destroyed the aircraft, as the engine was running on fumes and dangerously close to failing. Lucky for them, Iggy implemented a safe mode while making the airship, a precautionary measure in case of a scenario like this were ever to happen.

The purpose of the mode was to use less than ten percent of the engine's power so it wouldn't overheat and combust, which is real dandy at the moment, bad news however, it caused the airship to go half the speed of what it'll usually be in full power. So right now, it's flying very slowly, estimated to take around eight to nine hours to return to the Castle according to Corporal Paraplonk after leaving it on autopilot.

But that didn't concern Larry in the slightest, as long as it was still flying, everything will be alright.

… Or so he thought.

As he was sitting down, laying back on the side of the ship, he set his sights at his older sister who was chatting happily with Captain Boo and the Corporal while they were eating small snacks. The two minions looking rather joyful at seeing Wendy on board safe and sound.

He would've joined in on the festivities, but something irked him to divert from the group and sit alone. So here he was, sitting by himself, contemplating about the sequence of events that transfolded not that long ago.

He should be by Wendy's side right now, ecstatic that he managed to save her from the clutches of Wart. He should be embracing her, holding her in a death grip and never letting go.

But… he didn't… feel like it.

He couldn't understand why he was acting like this, trying his best to wrap his head around on why he was feeling so… angry.

Exhaustion? No, that can't be right, he would be feeling tired, not angry.

Adrenaline rush? If that was the case, he would be pumped up and jumping around the place in excitement rather than just sitting here.

Teenage hormones? Doubt it, he had one last joyful session with the adult magazine before the start of the heist.

So what was it that was driving him mad? Even with some minor hiccups, the mission was complete. They achieved success in bringing Wendy back on board, all cheerfully on their way to the Castle with the two million gold coins… which… they don't… have.

_Oh, right._

Larry rubbed his head in frustration upon remembering the botched heist. It started well at first, phase one of the plan was a breeze and phase two was supposed to be easy as well, but no, something just had to go wrong.

This Heist was supposed to be his redeeming variable, his one chance at finally impressing his siblings, most importantly Lord Bowser, showing them that after so many failures, he has succeeded. But like every battle with Mario, it was just another disastrous blunder in his record and a look of disappointment waiting for him from the King himself.

All he wanted was to make Da… Lord Bowser proud, to just give him a reason to smile during these tough times. But it seems it was too much to ask.

It finally dawned on him, the true reason why he was feeling so upset.

It was his Pride… or what was left of it after it shattered tonight.

"Hey Larry, you hungry?" He heard Wendy ask.

He could sense her standing in front of him, but right now, he didn't even want to look at her.

"I'm not hungry right now."

She could tell something was off as his tone sounded distant and empty, in her mind, she thought it was probably because she hasn't thanked him yet for rescuing her. So she kneeled in front and brung him close to her, holding him in a warm hug while she softly kissed him at the side of his head.

"I knew you'd come back for me little bro, thank you so much for risking everything to save me, I couldn't have asked for a better, braver brother." She said while hugging him even tighter.

But Larry didn't say anything, nor attempted to hug her back as he stared angrily at the ground, the repercussions of his past failures and recent defeat were too much to alleviate his displeasure.

He roughly forced his way out of the hug before walking to the front of the airship, "Sure, whatever Wendy."

She stared at her retreating sibling, flabbergasted at receiving such a cold response from him. She turned her head towards Captain Boo and Corporal Paraplonk, the two minions shrugged their shoulders as they too had no idea why Larry was acting very hostile.

When Larry was halfway to his destination, Wendy would appear in front of him and stop him in his tracks.

"Hey, what's wrong?" She asked with a look of concern.

He continued staring down at the floor, refusing to see her.

"I don't know. You tell me."

His tone sounded defeated, almost like he's completely given up on everything.

"Larry, come on, tell me what's bothering you."

"I just want to be alone right now."

He lightly brushes past her as he continues walking to the Captain quarters. He wanted to stay as far away from everyone, because he felt he was gonna snap at any moment, last time he did that, it wasn't good.

Whenever he breaks down or throws a tantrum, he says horrible things to others in which he instantly regrets afterwards. One such incident will always be drilled on the back of his mind.

In the days back in the orphanage, Morton was infamously known as a chatterbox, appropriately given the nickname **"Big Mouth"**, one for his oversized jawline and the other for not being able to stay quiet for that long. He was albeit a bit slow in the head, but was just a generally curious kid who questioned everything.

One day however, Morton made the mistake to begin bickering at Larry, who at that moment wasn't really in the best of moods after finding out that his little worn down tricycle was stolen. Morton's constant chattering made his blood boil, to the point where he stomped towards him before yelling at him.

"_**Can you just shut up already?! Everyone hates it when you open your damn mouth, no wonder no one wants to adopt you or any of us!"**_

One look at his face and Larry knew that those words have crushed him to his core and he wishes every night he could take that sentence back.

Morton changed after that, the once joyful, outgoing, talkative kid has transformed into a stoic, and quiet Koopa. Larry kicked himself for years following that incident, blaming only himself for Morton's change in personality.

He desperately didn't want to repeat the same crap and say something regrettable at Wendy, but she was making it really difficult.

"Bro, just tell me what's the problem, stop bottling your emotions. I'm trying to help you like you helped me." She persisted.

"Wendy, Drop it, Now." He warned her as he curled his fists.

She was getting rather annoyed by Larry's stubbornness, she knew about his behavioral problems, but she hated it when he started acting like this.

"Listen Larry, I don't know what has gotten you all riled up, but let's just take a breather. The airship is still running, we're all alive and on our way to make it safely to the Castle with all the money-"

That was as far as she could go before Larry whipped his head around and stormed right at her.

"Money?! WHAT MONEY WENDY!?" He screamed at her face while puffing his chest and tip toeing so he could reach her height in a sad attempt to intimidate her.

His sudden outburst took Wendy aback as she began looking around the deck for any sign of the bags of gold coins, a sense of dread creeped upon her when she realized the search was fruitless.

"It's-It's not here?" She muttered.

"Yeah, no shit! While we were being shot, I saw the bags fall off the airship. Two million gold coins, all gone now!"

Wendy felt a headache coming in as her debt problem became increasingly difficult, with no money recovered from this, her chances to pay it all off by next week shrunk considerably.

"H-How am I gonna pay for my debt now?" She mumbled quietly.

Larry however, was able to hear her whispered question as his whole body bristled in absolute fury.

"Your debt?** YOUR DEBT?! IS THAT THE ONLY THING YOU CARE ABOUT RIGHT NOW! HOW ABOUT THE MINIONS?! HOW THE HELL ARE THEY GONNA GET PAID AND PROMOTED NOW?! OR WHAT ABOUT IGGY, SIS?! HE SWEATED BLOOD AND TEARS TO MAKE THIS AIRSHIP, NOW WE'RE BRINGING IT BACK ALMOST COMPLETELY DESTROYED, AND IT'S PROBABLY GONNA TAKE SEVERAL THOUSANDS TO FIX IT! AND WHAT ABOUT ME WENDY?! THIS HEIST WAS MY ONE CHANCE TO REDEEM MYSELF, BUT NOW I HAVE TO SHAMEFULLY WALK TO KAMEK AND LORD BOWSER AND TELL THEM THE WHOLE OPERATION WAS A BUST! DID YOU EVER THINK ABOUT THAT WENDY, HUH?!"** He snarled at her as foam started coming out of his mouth.

His loud yells alerted Captain Boo and Corporal Paraplonk as they slowly trudged towards the pair, Wendy on the other hand reeled back in shock from his outburst.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't-" Her attempt to apologize was cut off by Larry who wasn't having it.

"Sorry ain't gonna bring back the money! Things were going so well at first, but you had to get caught! This is all **YOUR** fault, I should have never brought you into this!"

It was now Wendy's turn to be enraged, "My fault?! I don't know about you Larry, but I clearly remember telling you to go on without me. You chose to save me, so what now? You regret coming back for me?!"

"You know what? Maybe I do! At least I would've kept an extra million and no longer have to deal with your whining anymore!" Larry snapped as the last cell of common sense left his head.

Captain Boo and Corporal Paraplonk audibly gasped at his remark, the two minions completely disturbed by the coldness in his statement.

Larry witnessed Wendy's face collapse as his brutal comment crashed into her like a bus, her heartbroken expression matching that of Morton's all those years ago. If he was in his right state of mind, he would've immediately apologized for it.

But right now… he didn't really care.

He stormed away from her and headed towards the Captain Quarters, satisfied in getting that off his chest.

A burning sense of rage slithered throughout Wendy's body as she ran to him and grabbed hold of his right arm, tightening it in a death grip. Larry grimaced in pain as she pulled him back and grasped his Mohawk with her other hand.

"You selfish bastard." She seethed at her younger brother.

"Selfish?! Me?! I saved your sorry tail from that creep, the only selfish one here is you!" He countered, snatching his arm and pulling his Mohawk away from her grip.

"Yeah right! Says the one who wishes he never tried, and leave his only sister with the creep."

"Maybe it's because he realized his ugly, ungrateful sister wanted to get caught."

Everyone else froze in disbelief as if time stopped, Corporal Paraplonk's eyes grew wide as saucers while Captain Boo covered his face with his hands and turned around, not looking forward to seeing what was about to happen.

"What the hell did you just say?!" Wendy yelled, closing in on Larry until she was mere inches away from him.

"You heard me! It makes total sense, you knew that Wart had money and damn well knew he liked you! I don't know how that phone managed to get near where he was sitting, but I'm willing to bet you had something to do with it!" Larry boldly declared.

Wendy couldn't believe it, she was beyond perplexed at her brother's theory that she purposely sabotaged the whole mission.

_Is this idiot serious?!_

"Don't be so stupid Larry." she said as puffs of smokes escaped her nose and hit Larry's face, but that didn't deter him from continuing.

"So you let yourself get captured by him and you're secretly happy that he did, cause you no longer have to worry about the money you owe seeing that he'll pay it off for you. To top it all off, you get to be the Queen of a Kingdom after you hitch the dude and become his little play thing. You always spout on how much it scares and disgusts you if he touches you, but deep down… you enjoy it, don't ya?!"

Larry assumed a lot of things, but for her, this went too far. She bared her teeth and extended her claws as she leaned her face towards his.

"Apologize right now Larry, before I knock those fangs out of your mouth." She warned him, her threat being an understatement, as she plans to do much worse.

This however, didn't scare Larry one bit as he bared his fangs and extended his claws as well, closing the gap between their faces as they both stared venomously at each other, "Why don't you make me?"

Corporal Paraplonk knew things were about to get ugly if no one interfered soon, he turned to Captain Boo, hoping that he could back him up in trying to break up the two, but he was still covering his face and facing away from the feud. Seeing that he was on his own for this, he mustered the courage to head and get between the snarling Koopalings.

"Please don't fight you two, why don't we take a step back and calm down a bit." the red paratroopa calmly said as he gently placed a hand on both their shoulders.

The gesture infuriated Larry as he slapped the hand away and roughly shoved the Corporal to the ground. The minion landed hard on the back of his shell as the bucket he was wearing popped off his head.

"Who are you to tell me to calm down, _slave_!" Larry snarled, towering menacingly over the frightened paratroopa, getting ready to tear him to shreds.

But before he could lay a finger on him, Wendy interjected and pushed him away, "You leave him out of this! This is just between me and you!"

Larry looked upon his sister who stood between the two, taking a protective stance so he wouldn't get too close to Corporal Paraplonk. His eyes flicked between her and the Corporal before he started to cackle loudly as he found the display laughable.

"Hehehe, first Wart and now you're stooping low for a minion, it ain't worth fighting someone as pathetic as you." He told her before turning around and walking away as he lost the desire to fight. But not before saying one last remark while heading to the front of the airship.

"I always knew you were nothing but a _**whore**_." He muttered loud enough for Wendy to hear.

That one sentence was the last straw for Wendy as her vision went red, she dashed towards him at lightning speed and struck him with a hard punch to the right of his cheek. Larry fell down face first after the blow and groaned in pain as the punch nearly knocked the living daylights out of him.

But before he could get up and fight back, she jumped on his shell, grabbed a hold of his Mohawk with her left hand and began dealing violent jabs on his face with the other. The force of each strike being dealt felt like he was being hit with a steel bar as Wendy is giving it her all and isn't holding anything back.

One of her punches managed to sock his right eye socket, he cried in agony as the blow definitely gave him a black eye. She then grabbed a hold of his mohawk with both hands and lifted his head up a little before roughly slamming it back down on the wooden deck. A loud crack was heard as Larry started to bleed profusely from his nose, tears began to spill from his eyes as the pain was getting too much for him.

But before he could tell Wendy to stop, she lifted his head and slammed it down again, and again, and again. She continued to smash his face on the ground as Larry's snout was covered in blood and splinters, the floorboard filled with a pool of his red vital fluids.

Corporal Paraplonk looked upon the scene with a horrified expression as he witnessed Wendy savagely beating her little brother, Captain Boo, who was still facing away from them, has covered his ears in an attempt to draw out the noise.

It was at this moment where Larry realized that his sister wasn't just giving him a pounding… she was trying to kill him.

So in one quick move, he reached behind him, managed to grab a hold on one of her arms and pulled it in front of him where he gave it one large hard bite. Wendy screamed as his fangs dug deeper on her arm causing it to leak pints of blood, she tried to get him to let go by giving him more punches but he kept holding out the mouthful.

Seeing that punching him was proving to be ineffective, she tried a different tactic, with the use of her sharp claws, she dug it on the side of his head where his blue star birthmark was at and slowly sliced it, leaving four large gashes.

This proved to work as Larry let go of her arm, but reeled his head forward before slamming it back, managing to bash Wendy in the face. The impact gave him ample time to get up, but the time of relief was cut short as she quickly lunged herself on his shoulders and grabbed hold of his Mohawk again.

In one swift motion, she pulled them both backwards, making them land on their shells as she quickly placed Larry in a choke hold with her legs. While keeping him in that position, she gently rubbed her mouth with the back of her hand and saw some blood smudged on it with some of her pink lipstick, meaning that the back head blow from him managed to bust her lip. She gritted her teeth in fury.

_You're fucking dead Larry._

Her brothers may have more upper body strength, making it easier for them to lift things and throw harder hits, but if there was one thing she was superior at, it was her lower body strength. Her well toned legs and thighs were proof of it as she spends a lot of time working on it in the Castle gym.

With that in mind, she leered down at Larry who was trying to break free from the choke hold, making sure that her leg is wrapped around his neck and her thighs are placed on each side of his head before squeezing tightly.

Larry winced as he was getting squished, he could hear bone cracks while feeling like his eyes were gonna pop off and his skull was about to explode.

_Jeez! What is her thighs made out of?!_

What made it worse was that he couldn't breathe, her leg that was wrapped around his neck blocked the air tube from receiving any oxygen. He slowly started to lose consciousness as Wendy kept on squishing, not showing any sign of stopping.

_So this is how it ends, huh?... being suffocated and crushed between a girl's legs… honestly, not the worst way to go._

But before his vision would fade to black forever, jolts of electricity spazzed throughout Wendy's body, causing her to convulse erratically and let go of her choke hold. Larry let out multiple coughs after being set free as he tried to regain some air.

He looked up to see who it was that saved him from suffocating to death and saw Captain Boo, holding a taser in his hand as he gazed sadly at Wendy's unconscious body.

"I'm sorry Mistress Wendy."

* * *

_**MEANWHILE…**_

"Oh please Waluigi, tell me it ain't so!" Wario cried to his lanky accomplice.

The duo were on their way back to the Casino after receiving reports of a large explosion, this comes right after winning a large sum of money from betting on a boxing match as the boxer they betted against had to forfeit due to _"substantial injuries"_' before the start of the fight.

"It's gonna be fine Wario, I'm pretty sure the explosion wasn't that bad." Waluigi assured him as he drove the golden luxury car through the snowy terrain.

"I sure hope so brother, I don't want it to cost me a fortune to repair." Wario said while taking off his yellow cap and squeezing it tightly, using it as a way to calm his nerves.

The snowfall made it hard to see from afar, but it didn't take long for them to see the smoke on top of the hill where the Casino used to stand.

Waluigi cringed upon seeing the destroyed structure as there was nothing left but rubble,

"Oooh, that is very bad."

Wario wasn't faring any better as he started to hyperventilate. All of a sudden, he opened the car door and jumped out while it was still moving, his plump body spun around several times in the snow before he quickly got back on his feet and ran towards the scene.

"Wario, Wait!" Waluigi yelled behind him, quickly stopping the vehicle and jumping out to catch up with him. But Wario didn't stop as he continued sprinting till he was in front of what was supposed to be the front entrance.

He dropped to his knees and let out a loud wail as he gazed upon the remains of his luxury Casino. The smell of melted gold and ash penetrated his nostrils that small tears dropped from his eyes.

"My baby! My beautiful baby is gone!" He cried as he started kissing a piece of debris.

Waluigi just stared at him incredulously, like sure, Mount Wario Casino cashed a lot of revenue, but they still co-owned several others in different sectors around the world. He looked around and was relieved that most of the guests and workers made it out in time as the employees were cleaning up the mess and looking for survivors while some patrons decided to aid them in their search.

The emergence of an old toad from the rubble caught Wario's attention, he growled in anger and marched towards the unsuspecting fungi, grabbing him by the throat.

"I put you in charge to watch over my Casino, and I come back to this! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't pound your face in!" He threatened the frightened toad, readying himself to give him the pummel of a lifetime.

"If I were you, I'd answer him quickly, he doesn't like to be kept waiting." Waluigi said, standing right by Wario.

The elderly toad who's sleazy mustache was half burned, stuttered for a bit before explaining everything to him, "M-Mister W-Wario, I assure you everything was going smoothly, but all of a sudden the roof got blown up from an airship. I-It was the Koopas! The filthy Koopas were behind all this!"

Wario arched an eyebrow, "Who? Bowser?"

"No, it was his little brats! I saw the girl one climb up to the airship on a rope!" The old toad declared before being dropped down as Wario let go of his grip.

"This doesn't make any sense, why would they blow up the roof? And why was the girl doing here in the first place?" Wario thought aloud.

"Maybe it's because of that." Waluigi told him, pointing downhill where thousands of gold coins were scattered in the snow. Upon closer inspection, they could see some burned cloth bags.

_Is that… King Wart's stash?_

From what Wario can theorize, the little brats must have been after it in the first place. As an avid thief himself, blowing up the roof in front of dozens of witnesses and causing as much noise as possible wasn't really the smartest of approaches.

_Then again, Bowser's Koopalings are pretty dumb. Like what else are they good at besides getting their heads stomped on? Becoming Doctors? HAH!_

"Wait a minute, you said they just blew up the roof, that doesn't explain why the whole Casino was blown to bits." Wario pointed out.

"That would sadly be from King Bob-omb, someone had lit the top of his head and he couldn't put it out on time, poor fellow, may the almighty toad be with him." The elderly toad grievously said.

"Hey guys! I found survivors!" one of the workers shouted from afar.

Dozens of employees quickly rushed towards him, aiding in pulling out the unconscious bodies of a Monty Mole, Hammer Bro and a pudgy Sledge Bro from the debris. Wario and Waluigi rapidly waltzed to the commotion, noticing that they're the three guards that were in charge of the second floor.

Wario placed two fingers on each of their necks to see if they had a pulse and let out a sigh of relief as he felt faint heartbeats, proving that the three individuals were still alive.

_At least we don't have to deal with funeral costs._

The survivors were then placed on stretchers and transported to the ambulance that recently arrived. The crowd watched as the last one was hoisted in before the paramedics drove off to the nearest hospital.

Waluigi rubbed his arms as he started feeling cold, the snow and chilly breeze wasn't really helping either. As he stood there, attempting to keep warm, a question popped in his head.

"Hey old man, since we know what happened to King Bob-omb, do you know if the three other royals made it out in time?" He asked the old toad.

"I can confirm that Queen Bean is alive since she recently messaged me about returning her necklace if it survived the blast. I'm pretty sure King Boo is alright, you know, since he's already dead. As for King Wart however, I'm not really sure, we looked everywhere, but there's still no sign of him."

Wario rubbed his face in frustration upon realizing he won't get a cut of the profit from the royals monthly game night seeing that most of their items were destroyed in the blast. He could already sense the millions of dollars that went down the drain tonight due to these unfortunate events.

"All right! Employees! Gather around, we're having an emergency meeting!" He called out to all his workers who immediately formed a circle around him.

"Look, I know you're all shaken up from tonight and most likely worried about your employment, but worry not, all your jobs are secured, but you'll be transferred to another Casino location. So this is what I want you all to do, I- " He paused when he noticed a green Shy Guy tapping on his phone.

"Hey green man! Are you paying attention?!"

Sergeant Guy flinched when Wario yelled in his direction, "I-I'm sorry Boss, I'm listening!" he replied as he sent a text message to Kamek, warning him about the incoming chemical attacks towards their bases before putting his phone away.

Wario huffed before continuing, "Like I was saying, I want this whole place cleaned up for tonight, once that's done, you can all take a week long paid vacation. Emails will be sent to you in a couple of days, telling you where you're gonna work by next friday and you better make it there on time, Understand? Good, now start cleaning."

The group of employees quickly dispersed and began to do as told, taking handfuls of rubble and placing them in large trash bags. Wario smiled at the scene before turning around to his car.

"Let's get out of here Waluigi, I want to return to our mansion and forget that any of this happened today."

"You got it, but before we go, I've found some things you'll be happy to see." Waluigi said, handing Wario a ruby jewel and a shiny silver necklace.

"Are these the items King Bob-omb and Queen Bean betted tonight?" He asked him while inspecting the objects.

"Yep, I found them in the snow, guess those titanium vaults were good for something. Now we can use them to pay off for some of the damages."

"But didn't Queen Bean say that if we found her necklace, we should call her?"

Waluigi grinned malevolently at him, "And who said we ever found it?"

They both snickered mischievously as they made their way towards the luxury vehicle, but as Wario was halfway inside he paused in confusion.

"Wait, we have the necklace and the ruby, while Wart's money is spread around. Aren't we missing something?"

Waluigi rubbed his chin deep in thought until he snapped his fingers upon realizing the last item, "Oh yeah, King Boo brought that jar, you know, the one with the vengeful spirit of a cursed princess inside… oh… shoot."

As on cue, a loud shriek was heard as the surrounding sky seeped an oozy green aura. Everyone looked up in fear as a large demonic entity leaked from the debris, shaped as a green human female figure with empty white eyes and broken chains on its wrists and ankles. It let out one last ear piercing cry before setting its sights on Wario and Waluigi.

"W-Wario, start the car!" Waluigi yelled, walking backwards in fright.

"Way ahead of you!" Wario replied as he hopped inside, turning on the ignition and driving off.

Waluigi yelped when he saw him leaving without him, "Wait, Wait! Don't leave me behind!"

With the help of his long skinny legs and the coursing adrenaline rush, he manages to jump on top of the hood of the car. The duo looked behind and squealed in horror as the vengeful spirit was chasing after them and closing in fast.

"WAAAAAAAAHHH!" They let out their infamous screams as Wario slammed on the petal making the vehicle go at maximum speed.

Sergeant Guy, the elderly toad and the crowd of employees watched the duo drive away with the ghost right behind them until they disappeared on the far horizon. They continued staring afar for a moment before returning to work on cleaning up the mess.

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

_**Back at the Airship…**_

Larry winced as Corporal Paraplonk carefully removed some wooden splinters from his snout, gently pulling one out before dabbing it with a cotton ball of alcohol.

"Don't worry Master Larry, just one more splinter and you're good to go." He calmly said before pulling the final one.

Larry grinned weakly at the minion, placing an ice pack on his swollen black eye to ease the pain. The fight between him and his sister left him offly beaten as his whole face felt numb from the numerous punches he received and an ugly scar of claw marks that were scratched on the blue star on the side of his head.

There was nothing else he could do but accept defeat… again. Granted, it was one he deserved since he pushed it too far.

He gazed back at Corporal Paraplonk, who was searching inside a med kit for bandage wraps to cover some of his wounds.

"Hey Corporal." He uttered weakly.

The red paratroopa turned his head around upon hearing his name called, "Yes Master Larry? Do you need something?"

"I… um…" Larry meakly sputtered as the Corporal placed a piece of cloth over his swollen eye, finding it hard to form the right words.

"I want to say I'm sorry for pushing you to the ground and calling you a slave. That was… totally uncalled for."

Corporal Paraplonk stared at him for a moment before gently smiling, "It's quite alright sir, I know you didn't really mean it. But I'm not the person you should be apologizing to."

Larry wanted to deny that statement, but knew that he was right, the things he said to Wendy were cruel and unwarranted. There was no one else to blame for the beating but himself.

"I know… I know." He wholeheartedly agreed.

Soon after, Captain Boo would emerge from below spooking both Larry and the Corporal, the two let out held breaths upon seeing it was just him.

"How's Mistress Wendy Cap?" Corporal Paraplonk asked him.

Captain Boo shook his head with a glint of sorrow, "She's awake, but… she's offly quiet."

Larry stared down at the floor as he heard about Wendy's current state, he had to fix this, "Can I go see her Captain?"

"So you can what? Insult her again?" Captain Boo scowled at him.

In different times, Larry would've punished him for daring to talk like that to his superiors, but for what he himself did, he's earned every vile and derogatory slur thrown at him.

"I know that what I said to her was stupid and wrong, I just want to patch things up with her, please?" He begged.

Captain Boo gazed at him suspiciously, skeptical of his plea, but relented after a while, "Fine, she's downstairs by the third cabin."

Larry nodded his head before heading below deck to where she was located, he peeked inside and noticed her sitting on her hammock, resting her chin on her palm while looking down on her phone.

"Um, Wendy?" He called out to her, but she flat out ignored him.

Seeing that she is disregarding his calls, he decided to try a different tactic, remembering Wendy's approach from earlier today in his room. He waltzed inside the cabin with determination in one eye and sat on the hammock, nudging in closer to Wendy until their arms were touching.

"So… that fight was intense huh?" He joked, trying to alleviate her grumpy mood, but she continued to tap away on her phone, refusing to notice his existence.

Realizing that his strategy didn't work, he tried to think of another way to get her to open up and talk to him, but found it hard to come up with something, mostly now as his black eye was starting to sting again. So he just sat there, swinging his legs back and forth as the two siblings were sitting in complete silence, the small wooden creaks from the airship and claws tapping on a phone screen were the only source of sound emitting throughout the quiet session.

Larry attempted to lie his head on her shoulder but she snatched her arm away and moved farther away from him. He felt a pang of hurt in his chest from her cold response, he looked down in dejection and let out a long sigh before he mustered the courage to apologize.

"Wendy… I'm sorry. I was wrong in saying those things to you. I-I was dumb and immature and I earned every punch, every scratch and every broken bone you gave me. I'm… I just…"

Wendy paused her thumb from continuing to tap her phone as she listened to her younger brother.

" _*sigh*_ I'm real sorry Sis." He finished, looking at her with a guilty expression.

She glanced at his remorseful gaze for a moment before turning off her phone and setting it beside her. She rubbed her hands together as she questioned him, "Did you mean it Larry? About all the things you said about me?"

He slowly shook his head, "No, not one bit."

"And the money Larry? Do you hate me cause I ruined it for all of you?" she queried.

He gave her a dubious look, "Wendy, we don't hate you, none of this was your fault. Sure, the heist was a bust and all the money is probably buried in the snow or melted into nuggets. But… we managed to rescue someone more valuable than that."

Wendy chuckled when she heard that, finding it a bit cheesy but warm-hearted nevertheless.

_Not gonna lie, that was pretty good._

Larry then reached over, placing his hand over hers, giving it a gentle squeeze, "I love ya Sis."

She gazed down at her hand being caressed by his before squeezing it back, she scooted closer to him, letting him rest his head on her shoulder while she rested hers on top of his noggin.

"Love you too."

The two stayed like that for several minutes, preserving the moment as their bodies felt safe next to each other, their smiles grew wider as their held hands clasped even tighter.

_**ACHOO!**_

A loud sneeze startled the two back to reality as they turned their heads towards the front door and spotted Corporal Paraplonk and Captain Boo peering inside. The Corporal had his mouth covered with both hands while the Captain leered down at him.

"Great job in getting us caught dude!"

"I had to sneeze! What? I can't sneeze anymore!"

"Were you two watching us the whole time?!" Larry angrily asked, letting go of Wendy's hand and stomping towards the two minions.

"Don't look at me, It was his idea!" Corporal Paraplonk declared pointing at his partner.

Captain Boo gawked at the accusation, "Oh no! You are not pinning this on me!"

"Enough! Don't make me send the two of you to feed the chomps!" Larry stated.

The Corporal shivered in fright when he heard the Koopaling's threat, "Oh please Master Larry! Anything but that!" He begged as he got on his knees and grabbed a hold of Larry's right leg.

Wendy giggled at the scene, finding the bickering between her brother and the minion's hilarious. She hopped off the hammock and sauntered to the group, placing her hand on Larry's shoulder and pulling him closer to her.

"Don't worry you two, I'll make sure he doesn't make you do anything drastic." She proclaimed, giving her younger brother a smug grin.

The two minions smiled brightly at her as Corporal Paraplonk quickly let go of Larry's leg and straightened his posture out, the duo quite joyful at seeing Wendy in a good mood again.

"So is everything good between you and Larry Mistress Wendy? Also, sorry about, um, tazing you back there." Captain Boo said, rubbing the back of his head.

"No worries Captain, I want to thank you for stopping me from killing this little bugger. As for me and Larry, I'm happy to say we're on good terms, like it should always be." she affirmed as the two siblings grinned happily at each other.

The nice moment was cut short however, "Sorry to interrupt but, what are you gonna tell Kamek and Lord Bowser about the heist tonight Master Larry?" Corporal Paraplonk questioned the young Koopaling.

Larry's grin morphed into a frown, "Honestly, I'm gonna have to tell them the truth, there's no point in hiding any of this. So… this sadly means that this might be the last we'll be working together, so I'm sorry things haven't worked out as we planned boys."

The minions looked down at the floor with downcasted expressions, both quite sad that the stealth group might be disbanded.

Larry turned back to his oldest sister, "And I'm sorry we couldn't get the money to help you out." He added with a sorrow gaze.

The cabin room was now densely silent as a depressing aura began filling the void, that is until Larry clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention, "Now everyone, this isn't a time to be moody, but a time to celebrate. It's almost midnight and we won't get back to the Castle in like eight hours, so let's head to the Kitchen and indulge in food and drinks before we hit the hay!"

He waved his hand to let them know to follow him as he left the cabin and headed towards the Kitchen not far from there, the rest followed suit with Wendy trudging behind. She still felt really bad that they couldn't recover any money from the heist and the fact they were bringing a nearly destroyed airship back home.

But as she was rubbing her hands in an attempt to ease her queasiness, she froze upon feeling a hard lump on one of her fingers. She peered down and saw the sparkle coming from the diamond wedding ring Wart gave her, she rapidly, with a little bit of effort, pulled out the ring and ran to the group who were farther down the hallway.

"Guys, Wait!" She shouted at the three.

They all paused as Wendy caught up to them and showed them the jewelry on her hand.

"I don't think tonight was a lost cause after all, look at what Wart gave me." She said, handing the ring to Larry.

He gazed at the diamond ring on his palm before picking it up with his claws and lifting it high to thoroughly examine it. After several seconds of looking it at every angle, there was without a doubt in his mind that this was a genuine diamond. The bright sparkles it illuminates with the light and the grayish reflections were proof of it.

_Geez, Wart went all out for this…_

Larry was pleased at the find, but he had to break the news, "I got good news and I got bad news, the good news is that this is worth A LOT, the bad news, in a reasonable market it's worth only 500 thousand gold coins." He claimed.

Wendy thought over what he said, sure five hundred grand wasn't two million, but it was still a hefty bunch of dough. She looked in front and saw Captain Boo and Corporal Paraplonk gaze at the shiny wedding ring in amazement.

_And it's a good amount that'll definitely help them out_.

"Keep it." She suddenly uttered.

Larry stared at her in bewilderment, "What?"

"Larry it's obvious you need it more, you all do. So take the ring, show it to Kamek and Lord Bowser so you can prove you got something valuable from the heist before selling it and use the funds to pay for yours and the minion's cut. Then, if you have money to spare, you give the rest to Iggy so he can fix the Airship." She explained

"But what about your medical school debt?" He asked her.

"I'll figure something out, I do have seven other brothers to ask."

Larry's eye flicked back and forth between Wendy and the diamond ring before he took her hand, placed it gently on her palm and enclosed her fingers over it.

"Thanks for the offer Wendy, but that'll be a no."

"You sure?" She queried.

"We'll be fine, it's you that needs the money more than we do. Plus, Wart technically did give it just for you." Larry said as the two minions behind him nodded their heads in agreement.

Wendy grinned softly at the trio in front of her, "Thank you guys."

"Sure thing Sis, now come on, let's celebrate the night." Larry said, gesturing her to follow them to the kitchen.

* * *

_**8 Hours Later…**_

After indulging herself with several cans of beer and making sure Larry stuck with his soda as he was far too young to consume alcoholic drinks, she and the rest of the crew went off to their separate cabins and dozed off to a peaceful slumber for several hours until they arrived at the Castle.

Once they arrived at the underground base, Corporal Paraplonk parked the airship without a problem as Iggy was awaiting them by the dock. He was shocked at the state of the aircraft and mildly disappointed that they came back with nothing, but he was happy that they all managed to arrive home safe. Even though the airship he worked on was now in shambles, he politely said he'll deal with the costs of repair himself, but warned Wendy and Larry that they owed him a "huge favor" for this.

Seeing that it's eight in the morning, Captain Boo and Corporal Paraplonk quickly said their goodbyes to the two Koopalings before heading back to work. Wendy decided she would take a small beauty nap before going to Morton to see if he could help her with her money problems, while Larry would seek out Bowser and Kamek to report them about the botched heist.

As they were taking the elevator to the first floor of the Castle, Wendy could see that Larry was acting pretty nervous beside her.

"Why all worried there Larry? You know Lord Bowser and Kamek will completely understand." She assured him.

"I know that, but that doesn't make it any easier." He replied as the elevator doors automatically opened.

The two Koopalings stepped out of the shaft and turned to each other for one last time before going their separate ways.

"Like I said before, you're Bowser's favorite Koopaling, so just be honest with him. Well, except for the part where I messed up your face if you don't mind, I've been through a lot of trouble with him already." She said while gently rubbing her left arm.

"Hehe, don't worry Wendy, my lips are sealed." He chuckled before giving her a slight jab on her arm. "I'll see you later."

But before Larry could head to Bowser, Wendy would place him in a small choke hold and noogie the top of his head, disheveling his Mohawk a bit.

"I'll catch you later squirt." she playfully jabbed before letting him go and headed away to her room.

Larry smiled at his retreating sibling as he smoothed out his Mohawk to its original position.

* * *

_**Bowser's Throne Room**_

"How bad is it Kamek?" Bowser asked the blue robed magikoopa.

The Koopa King and Kamek were currently alone in the throne, both attentively watching a holographic map of the Darklands being projected through a crystal ball.

"I'm afraid it's very bad your evilness, it seems that the text message I received from one of the minions was sadly factual. At around four fifty, highly toxic chemical attacks took place at every one of our military bases."

With a swirl of his wand, he showed the bird's eye view of several bases in flames through the hologram.

"From the information we received, It's without a doubt that this attack was ordered from King Wart, and that's not even the worst part, the text message also stated that Queen Bean from the Beanbean Kingdom and traitorous defectors King Bob-omb and King Boo were a part of this."

Bowser growled upon hearing the names of those responsible for the attacks on **HIS** Kingdom, He knew him and King Wart were fierce rivals ever since his visit to his Castle, but that ugly green frog had the audacity to strike his land first.

_If it's a war he wants, it's a war he'll get._

However, the involvement of Queen Bean surprised him a little, the communications between the Koopa Kingdom and the Beanbean Kingdom were minuscule. Ludwig, who he set as the head of foreign affairs due to his negotiating skills, would always come back from trade meetings between the two Kingdoms empty handed, saying that the higher ups were "not urgently interested in talks at this time". Whatever the case, starting today, Queen Bean and the Beanbean Kingdom has become enemies to the Darklands.

But a nerve was struck upon hearing King Bob-omb's and King Boo's names, he remembers when they were trusted allies of his, to the point where he began calling them **friends**, a title he respected cause he had so little. Eventually a fallout between the three occurred and this led to them no longer being his friends, and now, they've become his foes.

"What's the damage?" he grudgingly asked.

Kamek swirled his wand again, changing the scene to multiple minions wearing gas masks.

"Luckily, we managed to warn every base on time about the incoming attacks, as of now there hasn't been any reported military casualties, as for civilians, some weren't so lucky."

A grim face dawned upon Kamek as he twirled his wand, displaying the view of several dozen body bags being placed on the ground.

"As one of Wart's groups were retreating, they came across a small village in the far east and slaughtered every single one who lived in the vicinity. A total of sixty-three lives were lost, including women and children."

Bowser rubbed his face in anger and frustration, it was one thing to attack his army of henchmen, but to go off and kill innocent civilians especially children was a step too far. He'll make sure that King Wart and his followers pay severely for this.

"Make sure the media doesn't get a hold of this, the last thing I need is for panic and chaos to spread like wildfire." He ordered.

Kamek nodded his head in agreement, "Absolutely your highness, Do you wish to send the Koopalings to stand guard for any potential attack throughout different points in the Kingdom?"

Bowser paused for a moment before looking back at the projected images, the last thing he wanted is to be called in to confirm the identity of one of them in a body bag.

_I can' t lose them, not even one._

"No, I don't want any of them to go anywhere near this, better yet, make sure they hear nothing of this situation."

On cue, the large throne doors suddenly burst open as Larry emerged from the other side, thinking fast, Bowser grabbed the crystal ball and threw it at the stone wall making it shatter to pieces.

Kamek stared at the debris for a moment, "You know those things aren't cheap sire." He quipped but Bowser quickly shushed him.

"Larry my boy! How are you?!" Bowser chirped at seeing the youngest Koopaling.

"Um… is this a bad time?" Larry questioned after witnessing him throw an object at the wall.

"Not at all son! Come on in, I want to know how the heist went!" He hollered, waving him to come closer.

But as Larry got nearer to his point of view, his face morphed into concern upon seeing the bruises and scratches.

"Holy crap! The hell happened to you?!" He asked with worry, lifting him up and setting him on his lap.

Hearing the concerned tone, Kamek rushed to Larry's side and inspected the damage on his face, seeing the blood spots on his snout and the long gashes on the side of his head. He removed the cloth on his eye and grimaced at the dark swollen eye socket.

Luckily for Larry, Kamek knew a quick spell that can instantly heal any wound, so with a swoosh of his wand he prepared to bestow it on him, "Hold still Master Larry."

A cloud of blue smog divulged from the tip of his wand and plastered onto Larry's whole head for several seconds before dispersing completely. His face was now completely clean as if nothing ever transpired, the scratch marks, puncture holes and black eye were completely healed.

Larry smiled at no longer feeling any pain and finally being able to see clearly from his right eye, but soon noticed that it was awfully silent, his eyes flicked back and forth between Kamek and Bowser as they stared back at him. It was there where he realized he didn't answer Lord Bowser's question.

"I um… got into a fight with… one of the security guards in the Casino." He lied, hoping Lord Bowser and Kamek would buy it.

Kamek raised an eyebrow, displaying a doubtful look at Larry's answer, Bowser on the other hand, seemed to have bought it with flying colors, "Well, did you give him a good beating?"

Larry internally let out a sigh of relief that he bought into his lie.

"Uh, y-yeah, I knocked the daylights out of him!" He proudly declared.

"Atta Boy! I'm telling you Kamek, we got a fierce warrior here." Bowser roared in delight, rustling Larry's hair and giving him a slap on the back of his shell.

Larry couldn't help but beam brightly at the praise Lord Bowser was giving him, The Koopa King was the closest thing to a father for Larry, so appraisal and compliments always filled him up with joy.

Kamek gave a small smile of his own at seeing the fatherly affection Bowser was giving to the young orphan, bringing back past memories of when he took care of the King from his toddler years to adulthood. It wasn't an easy task as there were several bumps on the road and many verbal spats ensued between the two, but he was very proud of what he grew up to be.

He would've let the bonding between Lord Bowser and Larry continue until he remembered the harrowing problem that the Kingdom was currently facing, "Forgive me for interrupting Master Larry, but did you manage to retrieve the money? I won't disclose the matter at hand here, but right now we're in need of some additional resources."

Larry cringed at Kamek's question, realizing that he had to tell the truth to the both of them.

"Uh... no." He meekly replied.

Silence filled the throne room as the _"no"_ response echoed for several seconds. Larry witnessed how Bowser's proud grin fell into that of disappointment, a look he knew all too well and wished he didn't have to see right now.

"I'm sorry Lord Bowser, but… something happened and they noticed we were there so we had to rush out of the Casino and leave the gold coins behind. I-I'm real sorry guys." He apologized to the two, tilting his head down in shame.

The throne room was eerily quiet for several seconds until Bowser spoke up, "Meh, don't beat yourself too much Larry, you win some, you lose some."

He looked up to him in visible confusion, "Aren't you disappointed in me?"

Bowser snorted at said question, "Pfft, You're talking to someone who tried to kidnap the Princess and take over the Mushroom Kingdom for years and still comes up short. But that doesn't stop me from trying again does it?"

Larry ponders at the notion, the whole Princess Peach kidnapping and taking over the world plan has been a consistent goal of Bowser's since he was small and every time they were close to accomplishing set goal, the Mario Bros. would come in and ruin everything like they always do. But no matter how close he was to succeeding or how badly he lost, Lord Bowser will just lift himself up, dust himself out, take a small break and start again from scratch.

Dude was persistent, but his determination is admirable.

"What Lord Bowser is trying to say Young Master, is that failure and screw ups are a part of our everyday lives, but every new day is a good day to try again." Kamek explained to the young Koopaling.

"So does this mean I can still roll with the crew I set up?" Larry asked gazing up at Bowser.

"Of course son, you can always roll and do missions with them anytime you want, all I'm asking is that you don't let one or several failures stop you from trying again. Because at the end of the day, no matter how many screwups you had, I'll always be proud of you."

Larry beamed from ear to ear upon hearing what he said as he jumped on his chest and hugged him tightly. Bowser quickly returned the favor, wrapping his massive arms around him in a bone crushing embrace. While the hug wasn't really that long, it sure felt like an eternity for the both of them as they clutched each other like there was no tomorrow.

"So is there is anything else you want to tell me?'' Bowser asked him after they released each other from the hug.

Larry was about to say no until he felt a slight rustle in the back of his shell, he flinched internally when he realized it was the adult magazine he, for whatever reason, kept on him. Even though he could've kept it a secret from Bowser for a little longer and frame his older brother Roy for the misdeed, that little goody two shoe side of him told him to just be honest about it, mostly now since Lord Bowser is in a good mood.

"One thing, but promise me you won't get mad."

"Oh boy, that's never a good sign." Bowser playfully mumbled.

Larry reached back on his shell and slowly pulled out the adult magazine, handing it directly to Bowser's large hand. Kamek gawked as he catched a glimpse of the erotic cover art.

"Hehe, It's about time you gave that back to me." Bowser smirked as he gazed at his old trusty magazine.

"You knew?"

"Doesn't take a genius to know a little kleptomaniac of mine has stolen something from me. Guess you're at that age where you're finding an interest in these kinds of things, _*sigh*_ you kids are growing up too fast." Bowser said with a glint of sadness in his eyes.

It felt like yesterday when he took in seven rowdy kids from a run down orphanage and raised them to become valuable members of his army. He fed them, gave them a home and taught them war tactics while Kamek and Kammy showed them how to use magic. Years later, they've grown into upstanding young Koopas, from leading armies, guarding Castles, earning college degrees to owning their own companies.

They became far more than what he envisioned them to be, and he couldn't be more prouder.

"So… am I scot free?" Larry questioned, bringing him back to reality.

Bowser stared at Larry, red irises looking straight at clear blue ones. He will never say it out loud, but the baby-blue Mohawk Koopaling was his favorite, the youngest of the bunch until Junior came around. His sparkle of curiosity, mischievous and thievish personality along with his small temper always endeared him immensely as it reminded him of himself when he was much younger.

He couldn't help but grin softly at him, "Yes."

"Really!?" Larry prompted in delight.

But that delight was short lived as Bowser roared into a fit of laughter

"Bwahaha! No way Larry, I'm gonna punish the living shit out of you! Do you have any idea how pent up I am from fighting the urges to jack off!?" He yelled at Larry in frustration.

"You were holding out for that long!? For a magazine!? Have you ever heard of internet porn!?"

"You can't beat the classics kid, but since you were honest with me, I'll let you decide what appropriate punishment I can give you."

"You better take advantage of this opportunity Master Larry, he rarely gives his victims any choice." Kamek advised him, snickering evilly.

Larry couldn't believe it, he should've kept his damn mouth shut.

"Just give me the damn spankings." He said with reluctance.

"Ha, told ya, you can't beat the classics." Bowser chuckled as he cracked his knuckles.

_**6 DAYS TILL DUE DATE**_

_**TOTAL AMOUNT OWED: 900,000 GC**_

_**AMOUNT EARNED: 500,000 GC**_

_**TOTAL AMOUNT NOW: 400,000 GC**_

* * *

_**Author notes:**_

_**And that's a wrap for the heist arc, as Wendy managed to receive more than half of what she owes.**_

_**Wonder if Morton would be able to assist Wendy now? And if so, how?**_

_**Guess we'll find out in the next chapter.**_

_**All criticism and reviews are welcome!**_

_**Original cover art is from shinygiratinas Tumblr.**_

_**Thank you for reading!**_


	7. The Gentle Giant

_**Hello everyone, it is mid-May, meaning that we're almost at the halfway mark for the year 2020, a year that has been quite… challenging. But hey, no year is ever a breeze!**_

_**Also, super siked that a new Paper Mario game was announced, can't wait to try it out.**_

_**I hope all of you are ecstatic to finally see Morton Koopa Jr. as I consider him to be one of the most underappreciated Koopalings.**_

_**There will be a reference originating from Bowser Junior's Journey (3DS), so kudos to those who know it.**_

_**(Rated T for language, alcohol use, violence and mild sexual themes.)**_

* * *

The alarm sound from her phone awakens Wendy from her beauty sleep as she groggily picks up the device from the small desk beside her and turns it off, but not before checking the time. From what her blurry vision could muster, it was ten in the morning, meaning that her small nap lasted about two hours.

As she sits herself up on her queen size bed, she performs some morning stretches in order to calm her tense tendons and muscles. Once her body finally felt rejuvenated, she hops off from her comfy mattress and started to organize her sheets. Her large bed with the combination of soft pink pillows and a snuggly pink blanket was a source of pride for her, the size of it was massive for her body size that it can fit in all seven of her brothers with some space left over.

Not that she minds having them over, quite the opposite actually since most of her siblings come by her room a lot, either cause they had a bad dream or they just need someone to talk to. Being the only female in the group, she became sort of a mini mother figure, giving them comfort and guidance when they really need it.

The bad thing about it however, is that she has no mother figure to seek help or advice from as she relies mostly on herself. Don't get her wrong though, it's not like she never seeked help from one of her brothers before, most of the time heading to either Ludwig or Roy for some sense of comfort when she's feeling down since the two were the oldest of the bunch. Problem with that was, well… they were boys.

She's not saying that they never helped her out before, there were numerous times where they lifted her spirits up during her darkest moments, but there's some moments where no matter how much they try, they'll never understand. One such incident was when she started to go through puberty, the awkwardest time of her life, while it's true that almost everyone goes through this phase in their lives, male Koopas bodies change differently than that of female Koopas.

So as her brother's were receiving advice and tips from Bowser and Kamek during this puberty thing, she was mostly on her own.

She vividly remembers how she would squirm in her bed in pain, fear and confusion, so thank goodness that Kammy came along and explained all the bodily changes she's been experiencing and what will come later.

It was times like these where she wished she had at least one sister, the only girls she sees and talks to around here are Kammy and Pom-Pom who are both often busy doing other stuff.

But it wasn't just her own changes that made her puberty phase awkward, her brother's bodies and demeanor were changing as well, she nearly died of laughter upon hearing Ludwig's deep voice for the first time.

Besides that, many of them began growing taller, Iggy, Roy and Morton especially as they grew twice their original size in such a short time. Also their muscles were getting well toned and they began secreting this strong musky smell that drove her insane cause of how awful it was.

But that's not the worst part, once they figured out how to play with their junk, it was game over.

Seriously, the amount of times she ended up walking in when one of her brother's were _"exploring their bodies"_, she dare say that she's seen more dicks than Peach or any of the other princesses ever did, and that's something she's not too fond of saying.

She shook her head to clear that thought as she finished neatly fixing her bed and headed out of her room, today she decided to try her luck with Morton in the hope that he can help with her current debt situation. While he along with Lemmy are at the bottom of her list to seek financial help from, she had no choice but to try them first since her other siblings were occupied at the moment.

Ludwig's out of town with his symphony, Iggy is currently fixing the wrecked airship she and Larry brought back, Lord Junior is probably hanging out with his dad and who the hell knows where Roy is, she hasn't seen him in the Castle in three days. So with that in mind, she makes her way towards his room with her fingers crossed, praying that the big oaf has at least a stash of gold coins laying around or a quick job that pays well.

In the Koopa family, Morton is the odd one out due to being the only one with a dark-skinned complexion, a star birthmark on his left eye and a pure black shell, which are all a rarity in the Darklands among Koopas. Mix that with a body the size of a large beast, easily being the largest of all the Koopalings, narrowly beating Roy by an inch and you have someone that can strike fear among any who dares to go after him.

But behind the scenes, Morton is pretty much a snuggly teddy bear, the literal definition of a Gentle Giant.

He is a kind, quiet and warm-hearted Koopa who follows Lord Bowser's rules and orders with the utmost respect, and will do whatever he can to keep Lord Junior and the rest of Koopalings safe and protected.

Even though Roy can deal a lot more attack power and pull stronger punches, Morton can take a lot more damage without breaking a sweat, basically making him a walking tank. And unlike Roy, who's body mass is mainly muscle, Morton's is a mixture of both fat and muscle as devouring food is his favorite pastime.

His intelligence however… is that of a brute.

Wendy remembers when Morton was a livid speaker back in the orphanage, often rambling about almost anything that peeks his interest, she also remembers the nickname_ "Big Mouth"_ that was appropriately given to him due to his prolonged rambles and his large jawline that made him look pretty derpy when he was younger.

But then one day, the random chattering and babbling just… stopped.

Almost as if someone flicked a switch, transforming him into a timid mute that only speaks when he's being spoken too.

While Present day Morton is a tad bit more open then he was before, nowadays however, he talks like a caveman, often referring to himself in the third person, like "Morton does this, Morton does that."

She can't really explain as to why he's changed over the years and it honestly worried her.

At least she wasn't the only one to think this way, Ludwig was very concerned that his change in speech and personality was a neurological issue, so he called in Kamek and Kammy to evaluate him. After a couple quick tests and a short conversation with Morton, the two magikoopas assured them that nothing was wrong with him and that his change in dialect was more of a _"personal choice"_.

Although Wendy was relieved that Morton's mental health is alright, she found it quite odd that he chose to act this way, but if it's something he's comfortable and happy about, she won't interfere.

After a bit of walking, she arrived in front of Morton's room which was conveniently in front of Larry's who's probably passed out after last night's events.

She stared in awe at his huge black colored door before knocking three times,

"Morton, are you in there?"

She waited patiently for a response, but got only silence.

After ten seconds, she knocked again and still received no answer. Curious, she turned the doorknob and was slightly surprised that it was left open.

As she ventured inside, she was stunned at how small and empty his room was.

The poorly lit room was the size of a quarter of her own, with a generic bathroom and no windows, the only source of light being a candle on the side of his wall. The room also lacked furniture as there's no desk, no closet, heck, there wasn't even a bed, just a large plain mattress on the floor. The only items on display was an old small flat screen TV placed on the ground with an antenna on top, and a stack of children books in a corner.

Wendy gazed at the sight in disbelief.

_Woah, this is… depressing._

She waltzed towards the small TV and turned it on, finding only two channels with a good signal, The cooking channel and the wrestling entertainment network.

_Eh, not that surprising considering he enjoys food, and wrestling is his favorite sport._

The stack of children's books at the corner caught her eye as she headed there to closely inspect it, discovering they were mostly Pro- Bowser and Darklandian short stories aimed at five to nine year olds. There were titles like _"The Invincible King Koopa"_, _"Bowser the Great"_, _"Bad Mario and his Dumb Yoshi"_ and countless other ridiculous classics.

Her eyes went wide when she came across one book in particular, she couldn't believe that this one was being read in the curriculum.

"_**The Fabulous Queen Wendy"**_

Wendy squealed at the sight, remembering that she wrote this short story when she was little. She quickly took a seat on Morton's Mattress, not really caring about the smudges on it and began reading her masterpiece;

_**Once upon a time… **_

_**In a Kingdom Far Far Away**_

_**There lived a very fabulous Queen**_

The page showed an amateur drawing of Bowser's Castle with a few modifications, mainly that it was all pink and it had poke dots around.

_**The Fabulous Queen was named Wendy**_

_**She was the most fabulous Queen in the history of the universe**_

_**No other Queen was as beautiful as she was**_

_**And everyone loved her**_

The next page displayed a beautifully drawn Wendy in an elegant pink dress and long luxurious blonde hair, she smiled at how pretty she looked until she realized she looked a lot like Princess Peach. Her smile quickly turned into a frown.

Wendy and Peach never really got along, granted she never tried to befriend the Mushroom Princess. It's not like she's jealous of her, pfft… like… of course not, why would she be jealous of a barbie doll princess with her lavishly born hair, a face with no sign of bumps or wrinkles, her hourglass figure…

Oh who is she fooling! That girl is too perfect and Wendy hated her with every fiber in her body!

She shook her head in disgust before turning to the next page.

_**She had a lot of ugly brothers**_

_**But she still loved them anyway**_

Below those lines were poorly drawn faces of the rest of the Koopalings with hearts around them, while her younger self intended to make her brother's faces as ugly as possible, her older self found them all to be offly cute.

_**She was very rich**_

_**Very powerful**_

_**And very pretty**_

The page after showed a ripped Wendy with a six pack surrounded by millions of gold coins, all while smiling smugly and winking at the reader.

_Oh, how I wish I have that much money right now._

She turned to the last page and was taken aback at how graphic it was, the page showed her younger self pulling the lever of a guillotine, chomping off the head of another Koopa below it. She must have had a lot of fun with the red crayon seeing that it was maniacally scribbled everywhere.

_**She married all the cute boys and lived happily ever after**_

_**But those who said mean things about her and said they were prettier than her were… **_

_**Executed.**_

_**The End**_

She closed the book and stared at nothing for several seconds before squealing loudly and hugged the book close to her chest , the short story she wrote is literally the most beautiful thing she ever read.

_I should've become an author, that short story deserved a Nobel peace prize._

But as she was about to read it again, Morton's door slammed open, startling Wendy in the process. A giant figure emerged from the entrance, taking big stomps that shook everything in the nearby vicinity, it's massive shadow towering over Wendy like a predator ready to pounce on its prey, a menacing storm that's about to destroy and annihilate an entire island.

Wendy couldn't help but beam brightly at the sight of her brother.

"Morton! How you've been, Big Guy?" She happily asked, scooting herself to the right and patted the space next to her, signalling him to sit beside her.

Morton's serious expression quickly morphed into a dumb smile as he plopped himself on the mattress, causing Wendy to jump up for a couple of seconds before clumsily dropping back down, she giggled madly at the action.

"So how's my cute giant brother of mine doing? What has he been up to?" She questioned him in a playful tone, gently pinching his cheeks.

While most of her brothers would've been angry or insulted if Wendy coddled them like a baby, Morton takes it with pride as he finds the extra attention very enjoyable which is proven by the childlike grin he always puts whenever she does it.

"Morton is doing good Sister Wendy. Morton is very happy." He responded as Wendy stopped pinching him.

"That's good to hear. I also see that you got a lot of books around here."

He nodded excitedly, "Yes! Lord Junior is teaching Morton how to read!"

Wendy felt her heartstrings being pulled at hearing that Lord Junior had taken upon himself to show Morton how to read, something the Koopalings tried to do for years. Ever since the whole altercation with the BFF (Best Fitness Friends), Junior has become a lot more friendlier to the Koopalings, especially Morton since the big oaf is his favorite. She would often see the two fooling around together, playing some games and sometimes she'd spot Junior having fun riding on Morton's shoulders.

"That's… great Morton, I'm really happy for you."

"Morton's happy that Wendy is happy. Morton now knows how to spell big words." He proudly declared.

"Oh really now? Then can you spell ophthalmologist for me?" She challenged him.

Morton's wide smile faltered, "Uh…"

Wendy chuckled at his dumb expression, giving him a small jab on his arm, "I'm just playing with you! But really though, I'm proud of you Morton."

In reality, she was more ecstatic at his progress, academics was never really his strong suit as he found it difficult to understand or grasp basic concepts. He is below average in almost every subject, and his handwriting is all over the place as you are barely able to read out what he wrote.

It's not like she and her other siblings never tried to teach him, it's just that being generals of an army takes a lot of work and time, and since everyone does their own thing in different schedules, it was pretty hard for one of them to stay with Morton and tutor him for an hour.

So she's pretty delighted that he's finally receiving the education he needs.

"Um… what is Wendy doing in Morton's room?" He abruptly asks her.

Knowing that this was gonna be a question to pop up, she immediately started to give her planned explanation.

"This might sound a bit selfish, but I'm here to see if you have any gold coins to spare. You see, right now I have a… debt problem, how I got in debt is a funny story, heh. So it started with Lord Bowser sending me to- "

"Okay."

Morton's immediate approval caused her to pause mid sentence, "Did you just say… ok?"

"Wendy needs money, so Morton will give her money, anything for Big sister Wendy!" He happily exclaimed.

She couldn't believe it, she had a speech ready and everything, expecting him to hesitate or reject her pleads. But lo and behold, he surprised her.

"Th-thank you Morton! I knew I could count on you!" She gleefully said, wrapping her arms around his torso in an embrace.

Technically, she couldn't really wrap her arms around him since his body frame is quite big, her hands barely touching the sides of the shell on his back, but it's the thought that counts. Plus his hugs are the best, almost like hugging a large marshmallow.

"So… can you lend me four hundred thousand gold coins please!?" She asked after releasing her hug.

Morton's face quickly morphed into pure horror as he stared at Wendy like she grew multiple heads.

"Four hundred thousand! Lady, are you insane!?"

She froze in disbelief after hearing his uttered words, doing a double take just to make sure she heard it right.

_Di-Did he just… speak normally?_

"Ex-Excuse me!?"

"Morton says he does not have that much money." He replied as he reached back in his shell, taking out the few items stored inside.

After making sure he got everything, he showed Wendy the few items he had on his large hand. From what she could tell, the only things he had was a used tissue, a tootsie roll, and six gold coins, some of which looked to have been bitten on.

"Morton has some coins, about… um…" he trailed off as he slowly counted the amount of coins in his hand, clearly having trouble in doing it.

"Four… five… s-six… SIX gold coins! Wendy can take all of Morton's coins." He said as he extended his hand towards her.

She stared at the six gold coins along with the other stuff on his hand before letting out a loud groan as she laid back on Morton's mattress.

"Look… I thank you for the six coins, but that won't be enough to help me out." She sadly said, staring aimlessly at the ceiling.

Morton gave a saddened look upon seeing his sister in distress, so he copied her action and laid back on his mattress as well, the two siblings simultaneously gazing at the dark stone ceiling.

During this time, Morton would sneakily place one gold coin on her belly every once in a while. While he wasn't really that sneaky seeing that she immediately noticed what he was doing, she couldn't help but smile internally at the scene, finding it to be really adorable.

Once he finished placing the sixth and last gold coin, she picked them all up and placed them in her shell, but not before giving her gratitude.

"Thanks, Big guy."

He grinned from ear to ear at her grateful response as the two continued to stare at the ceiling for a while.

"So you don't have that much money on you, do you at least have… I don't know, a job or task that pays well?"

Morton went deep in thought, thinking hard in the empty recess of his mind to see if anytime pops up that can help her with her problem, his eyes opened wide as saucers as an idea came in mind.

"Oooh! Morton has idea! Wendy follow Morton!" He said as he quickly got up and bolted out of his room.

She barely had time to react as she tried to catch up to him, she would've lost him too if it weren't for the small vibrations he makes with every step. The two soon arrived at the Castle garage, where they stored their Koopa clown cars along with other items that couldn't be stored elsewhere.

She set her sights on Morton who hopped in his personal clown car, he looked back and signaled her to jump in.

"Wendy hop on Morton's car, enough room for Wendy."

"Hold up pal, where are we going?" She questioned him.

"Morton knows job that pays well… sometimes. So Morton's gonna go with Wendy there."

"What kind of job are we talking about?"

Morton gave a gentle smile, "Good Job, Honest work."

She stared at him suspiciously before shrugging her shoulders in defeat, wherever he was taking her is gonna have to do. So she walks up to the clown car and grabs a hold of his hand as he easily lifts her up and places her beside him, he turns on the engine and opens the garage door as the two ventured off.

As they were reaching their destination, Wendy had a pretty good idea of where exactly they were heading based on the large rocky hills, mining areas and the amount of workers heading back and forth with pick axes in their hands.

"Shy Guy Falls?! Mining County?!" she asked aloud.

He nodded at her, "Mining is good, honest job. If me and sister Wendy find something shiny, we bring it to Big Boss and he pays us."

He slowly parks the clown car by the side of the dirt road and hops out before helping her get off as he lifts her up with ease and gently places her on the ground.

"I don't know, this just doesn't seem like a job for a girl like me." She said as she gazed at two massive muscular sledge bros walking past them.

_Geez… those guys are ripped._

Morton however, dismissed her claims, "Sister Wendy is very strong girl, she can do anything. Now Wendy follow Morton so we can talk to Big Boss."

She did as told and followed her brother to the front entrance of the mine, she expected the _"Big Boss"_ to be a huge beast of a man, someone that projects power and fear just by looking at him.

So she was pretty surprised to find out that the _'Big Boss'_ Morton talks about is actually a short green spike with purple hair in a tacky gray business suit, he was barely even half her size.

But by the looks of it, it seems that size doesn't matter as both she and Morton watched him yell at a large sumo bro, who was easily ten times his size. The sumo bro shivered in fright and looked to be on the verge of tears as the Boss shouts at him in anger.

"Damn it Aaron! This is the tenth time I've caught you sleeping on the job! Don't you sleep enough at home?! Or are you just doing it to piss me off?!"

The large sumo bro rapidly shook his head, trying very hard not to cry in front of him, "Aaron is sorry he fell asleep, Aaron promises to not do it again. Me asks that Big boss not fire him, Aaron needs to feed wife and kids!" He begged.

Wendy cocked her head in interest at the sumo bro's dialect, noticing that he talked in the third person just like Morton does.

The Big Boss growled in fury, "You're lucky that I can't afford to fire anyone right now, because if I could, the only place you and your family will be sleeping in, is on the streets! So get your dumb ass back to work before I make you!** NOW!**" He yelled as the sumo bro ran away in tears.

It's pretty obvious that she wasn't gonna like this guy, poor sumo bro was just tired from working hard for who knows how long, but the Big boss wasn't having it.

He spat on the floor in disgust before turning around and immediately noticed the two of them standing there. His stern frown quickly morphs into a large smile upon seeing Morton.

"Morton my boy! Are you here to show these bozos how to work correctly?!" He asked him in glee.

"Yes sir, Big Boss! Morton brings Sister Wendy along to help too!" He said, gesturing to him to look at her.

The spike's face returned back to a stern frown as he set his sights at her, not looking so pleased at her presence.

"I see, any why would a young lady like herself wanna work in a place like this?"

"Wendy needs fast money, so Morton wonders if Big Boss will let her work for today?"

The boss stared at Wendy again, not afraid of showing his displeasure.

"Morton, can I speak with you in private please?"

From the corner of her eye, she could see Morton convey a nervous expression as he followed the boss several feet away from her.

"Look, I know that since you're a big guy you have a big heart and you really wanna help your sister out, very admirable in all honesty. But let me point out as to why that can't happen, number one, she's not part of our roster meaning that she can't just waltz up here and work for just one day, it's too much paperwork for me to deal with. Number two, Koopa forbids that she ends up getting hurt, I'm gonna end up with a lawsuit in my hands and everyone working here can say bye-bye to their employment. And number three, just look at her…" He trailed, turning Morton to look at Wendy, who was rather confused at why they were both staring at her.

"Do you think she's the kind of person that can pull her weight around here? Let alone lift a pick axe?"

"Big Boss, please, she needs our help."

The spike chortled loudly, "Our? Do I look like a communist to you? She needs **YOUR** help Morton, not mine."

"Then Morton will help, Morton works now and then gives all his money to her." Morton pleaded.

The Boss stared at him in disbelief, utterly perplexed that he was willing to hand out his earnings to his sister.

_Pfft… typical, the man does all the work while the lady comes and takes it all away, reminds me of my second marriage._

"You serious? Are you willing to work your ass off and get tons of cuts and bruises, just so you can give the wittle pwincess all your hard earned cash?"

Something inside Morton boiled over after hearing the boss mock Wendy, he straightened his posture and towered over the puny green spike, showing him the full extent of his massive frame.

"Anything for my sister." He declared.

The Boss took a couple steps back in fear as he gazed up at the hulking giant who could easily squash him in one step. While he wouldn't be really scared if one of his other workers attempted to intimidate him, Morton however is a different story, the boy's a Koopaling, meaning he has a lot of power in the Koopa Kingdom. So he isn't gonna test his chances by disciplining him, because the last thing he wants is to have problems with King Bowser.

"E-Easy there Big Guy, I-I'll allow this once, but if she wants your earnings she's gonna have to work with you." He nervously stuttered.

Morton grins and tilts his head to Wendy's direction, signalling the Boss to head her way, the latter rapidly obliging to his order.

"Okay Miss Wendy, it seems like you'll be working for me today, so let me give you a brief explanation of how things work around here. You don't get paid by the amount of hours you work, but by the value of stuff you find in the mine and bring to me, so basically you can either earn a lot of money or nothing at all. The types of valuables I'm looking for is coal, gold, iron and silver, but if you wanna make the big bucks, find me some petroleum. If you find tons of that sweet black liquid, you and everybody working here will get a big ass payday that they don't have to come back to work for a year. Understand?"

Wendy nodded in agreement, "Where do I start?"

"Haha, I like your style, if my daughters were a bit like you, I would've felt bad for abandoning them." He joked as he walked to a large crate and took out two items to give to her.

"Here's your hardhat and your own pick-axe, just follow your brother and do what he does and for pete sake, lose the bracelets and heels, this is a mine shaft not a goddamn designer fashion stage." He stated before walking away to deal with other matters.

"Well he's a nice guy ain't he." Wendy quipped as Morton walked up next to her.

"Big Boss is harsh man, but fair."

"You kidding right? Did you not see him scream at the other guy before?"

"Aaron should not have slept on the job, Lord Bowser would yell at Morton and Wendy too if they did the same." He pointed out.

"... you got a point." she muttered as she removed her bracelets and heels.

"Morton will hold on to them." He said, taking the items from Wendy's hands and placing it in his shell.

She smiled softly at her helpful brother before they both placed their hardhats on and ventured inside the mine, the pick-axe was slightly heavy for Wendy to carry with one hand, so she held it over her shoulder for support. She notices Morton carrying a fat flashlight along with a weird looking machine that had a long thick drill in the middle of it.

"What's that?" She queried.

"Machine that will help find oil." He explained as they continued on the dim tunnel that would've been pitch black if it weren't for the small light bulbs attached to both walls.

Even though she isn't bothered by walking without her heels, it still felt strange for her to move around barefoot, mostly on dirty, rocky terrain as pebbles and dirt stuck to her foot-pads. She fumbled around until she started going at a good pace.

The two Koopalings continued their descent down the mine, the duo beginning to leak droplets of sweat as the temperature and humidity increased the lower they went. Wendy soon felt her ears pop, signaling that they've gone several meters below the earth surface.

They've barely even started and she was already feeling exhausted.

"How much longer?" She grudgingly asked.

"Morton and Wendy halfway, ten more minutes." He assured her.

The more they continued on, the more miners she began to see, most of them stopping what they were doing as they stared at her, not in disdain or anger, but rather in shock and confusion since female miners were a rarity. A flirty whistle was heard from one of the workers causing Morton to growl loudly, pulling Wendy closer to him for the rest of the journey.

The duo soon made it to a separate tunnel which Morton explained was one he started several days ago, this causes a question to pop in her head.

"Hey Morton, how long have you been working here?"

"Me work here since… um… pu-pu… puberty. Where Morton became big and strong." He answered, putting down the drill machine and setting the flashlight to shine at the wall at the end of the tunnel.

He grabbed the pick-axe with both hands as he prepared to swing it at the wall.

"Me and Wendy start here, Wendy ready?"

With a bit of effort, she lifted the heavy pick-axe and got ready to slam it with all her might.

"Let's do this." She said as they swung at the wall.

* * *

_**Several hours later…**_

They've been hacking at this for who knows how long, and the only thing they managed to collect was roughly ten pounds of iron, which is barely even fifty gold coins worth. Wendy's whole body ached as she weakly swung her pick axe at the wall, all her energy and strength completely drained. Morton on the other hand carried on at the same pace as before, he looked exhausted, but continued working with determination. His sister needs money and cross his heart he wasn't gonna let her down.

Wendy took one last swing before falling on her knees in fatigue, the excess amount of work taking a heavy toll on her body. She tried to breathe in and out, but found it to be a difficult task to manage since the tunnel reeked of musty soil and a mixture of both hers and Morton's body odor. She was also really hungry and thirsty, not even the occasional snacks and buckets of water another miner would bring to them every once in a while was enough to alleviate her suffering.

All of a sudden she was lifted up by Morton, who slowly took her to a small rock nearby and sat her there.

"Wendy take break, Morton will keep going." he ordered as he returned to his work, this time going at it twice as hard.

She really didn't want to see him go through all the trouble and overwork himself, but she was too exhausted to even stand up, both her legs fiercely shaking at her attempt, begging her to rest for a couple of minutes. Seeing that standing and helping out wasn't an option at this time, she decided to just watch her brother at work, honestly finding it quite fascinating to see.

It's known to many that Morton along with Roy were the workhorses of the Koopaling gang, the two of them accumulating several hours of physical labor then the rest of the group combined. And by just witnessing one of them in action, she understands completely as to why.

Wendy watches in awe as Morton swung at the wall with such intense power that the tunnel vibrated softly with every impact, his arm and leg muscles glistening in the light due to the amount of sweat he was secreting, and his face and hands were covered with smudges of dirt. Even with all this, he continued on, looking as if he can go on for hours.

She wishes she had the amount of strength and stamina he has, so she'll at least be able to keep up with his workload rather than meagerly helping him while he does eighty percent of the work. The one thing she hated is to feel completely useless while doing a task.

The empty metal bucket laying on the floor sparked an idea in her head, if she can't assist her brother in mining the wall, she might as well bring cold water for the both of them.

"I'll be back Morton, gonna get us some water."

"Okay." He responded, taking a small breather before going at it again.

After walking back up for several agonizing minutes, she returns to Morton with not one, but two buckets full of sweet refreshments. Her arms quaking in pain as she had to carry the heavy buckets all the way down.

_They seriously need to add a mine cart or something, cause this is ridiculous._

By the looks of it, she came just in time as she saw Morton sitting on the ground, panting heavily like a tired dog. She quickly rushed to his side and handed him a bucket, to which he started chugging immediately.

As he took his last gulp, he let out a loud burp and sighed in satisfaction.

Wendy chuckled at her brother's antics before drinking from the bucket as well, the sweet cold liquid gracing her dry tongue and throat with heavenly relief. She took one last sip before she too sighed in satisfaction, the cold water soothing her aching muscles and restoring a bit of her energy.

She peeked inside the bucket and was generally surprised that it was still half full, so to make the most out of it she poured some on herself before taking the rest and pouring it all over Morton who's eyes rolled back in bliss. She decided to go the extra step and began rubbing his face to clean off the smudges, the giant Koopaling childishly smiling while she does it.

"Morton is very thankful." He said to her once she finished cleaning.

"Not a problem bro."

She would then sit next to him as the two decided to take a small break from laboring, enjoying the quiet moment together.

"You were right about this being honest work Morton, I can feel the honesty flowing through my aching tendons." Wendy joked, moving her limbs in visible pain.

He laughed a bit at her dismay, "Morton said this was good job, Me glad Wendy thinks so too."

"You said you've been working here since you hit puberty, why is that?" She asks.

"When Morton was young, Me was very shy and very quiet. Morton thinks that if he finds job, it can help him be more… uh… o-out…"

"Outgoing?" She finished for him.

He nodded in affirmation as Wendy smiled softly at him in understanding.

"Also Lord Bowser told Morton that Morton eats too much food, he says that if Morton wants to eat more, he has to buy it himself. So me finds this job and now Morton can buy all the food he wants." He explained to her.

A fond memory clicks back into her brain once he said that.

_Heh, How could I forget._

She remembers the time when Lord Bowser decided to do a little bit of experimenting by moving all of the Koopalings former positions to new ones, he wanted to see how every one of them performs and adapts to their new work environment.

Morton ended up being in charge of the Kingdom's food bank, which immediately raised a lot of red flags, but Bowser being the stubborn good guy he is, gave him a chance to prove himself.

Suffice to say, the whole thing turned into a disaster as the big oaf somehow managed to eat a quarter supply of food that was supposed to feed the entirety of the Koopa Troop for the year… in just one week.

This led to a massive food shortage throughout the Darklands as resources were sent to try to fill the void he had left, causing the Kingdom's federal reserve to bail out dozens of food companies as the whole market collapsed, ushering a wave of unemployment and decline in the economy never before seen since the rebellion of world eight.

What made it even worse, and slightly more funny, is that he said he was still "starving" even after consuming a plethora of edibles.

It's known throughout the Castle of Morton's notorious eating habits, every time when the family eats dinner together he would have an overabundance of food the amount of a large buffet, while everyone else including Bowser himself who is much larger than Morton, are satisfied with just one plate full.

So yeah, Morton's excessive food intake nearly caused a great depression and placed the whole Kingdom on the brink of another civil war.

To say that Lord Bowser was unhappy with the results of the experiment is an understatement, he immediately placed all the Koopalings back to their original positions and forced Morton to see an eating disorder specialist and registered him into a fitness program. The punishment Bowser gave has shown positive results as Morton, who still eats a decent amount, has cut back on his consumption and shown a lot more activity in the Castle gym, resulting in the big strong Koopaling we see today.

However, the whole food bank debacle left a stain on his reputation as his popularity and trust among the citizens of the Darklands declined significantly during that time, luckily he started gaining it back, slowly, but ever so slightly.

"Wait, do you waste all your money on food? Is that why your whole room is empty?" She questions abruptly, putting two and two together.

Morton nodded, causing Wendy to raise an eyebrow.

"But don't you want a new bed, a closet, a computer or something? I mean your room is basically empty, don't you want more stuff?"

He looked up, deep in thought before shaking his head, "Morton doesn't need more stuff, he has family, that's all Morton needs."

_Oof, right in the feels._

Wendy couldn't help but look at her brother in a gentle, loving gaze as his sincere and authentic response strung a chord in her.

She reaches out and softly caresses his upper left arm in a tender stroke.

"Don't ever change bro." she genuinely said.

He smiles warmly at her as the two continue on with their little break for another ten minutes before returning back to work.

But just as Wendy was about to hit the wall with the pick-axe, she noticed the drill machine Morton was carrying earlier laying on the ground.

_If you wanna make the big bucks, find me some petroleum. If you find tons of that sweet black liquid, you and everybody working here will get a big ass payday that they don't have to come back to work for a year._

Big Boss' advice repeated itself on her head as a brilliant idea came to mind.

She taps her brother's shoulder to grab his attention, signalling him to follow her to the machine. Morton obliges her command, setting down his pick-axe by the wall before heading her direction.

"Guess we've been working so hard that we forgot about the drill." She quipped as she walked up to it and attempted to lift it from the ground.

She may have underestimated the weight of the machine as she struggled to even lift it upright, this thing must weigh a ton causing her to question how Morton was able to carry it all the way down here like it was nothing.

Seeing that she was struggling, he rapidly rushed to her aid and placed the machine in a position where the tip of the drill was facing down to the ground.

Wendy gazed at the large device that was the same size as her in awe, "How does it work?"

He pulls her in front of the machine where she sees a large red button at the top, he grabs a hold of the two handlebars at each side and tightly grips it

"Hold tightly, press button, then drill drills ground."

She did as ordered and pressed the red button, sputtering the device to life. She watches as the long thick drill slowly lowers down to the floor till it punctures the ground, continuing on for about a foot until the machine abruptly stops as it starts to shake violently.

"It jammed!" She sputtered.

"Turn off, then press again." He directed.

Doing as told, she pushed the button to turn the device off before pressing it again, the tool continued on drilling until it jammed again not long after.

She repeated the same sequence over and over again as the drill kept on jamming every thirty seconds, the repetitive action beginning to irritate her immensely.

"The boss of yours really needs to buy new equipment." She said with frustration in her tone.

Morton didn't respond as he kept the machine steady, he too was also exasperated at the old tool's performance, but hid it under a neutral expression.

After what felt like the hundredth attempt, Wendy slams the button in anger as the device once again starts to function. This time however, a crack started to form on the right side of the hole, Morton noticed this and immediately stopped the drill from operating.

It was too late however, they watched as the crack expanded itself going from the ground to on top and all the way to the tunnel entrance several yards away.

The whole tunnel began to rumble violently as the lights attached to the side walls fused out leaving the front entrance of the tunnel and the flashlight as the only sources of light available. The two Koopalings looked up and dodged a large piece of rubble that fell from the ceiling.

The duo gazed at each other with terror in their eyes at the realization that the tunnel was going to collapse.

"Run!" They both yelled in unison as they sprinted to the entrance, their survival instincts cranking to overdrive.

They dodged and weaved the falling debris, inching themselves closer to escaping certain doom.

But just as they were centimeters away from getting out, the tunnel entrance was sealed shut by a large boulder, knocking the two Koopalings back.

Wendy groaned in pain until she gazed at the ceiling, looking at it in terror as several large rocks were about to fall on her.

The last thing she saw was Morton crawling on top of her, using his large frame to shield her from the debris before everything went pitch black.

* * *

_**Author notes:**_

_**Sorry about the cliffhanger, but I assure you that you'll enjoy what I have in store for the next chapter.**_

_**In this story, I consider Wendy to be a bit older than Morton (not that old, just a year ahead) even though he is much, MUCH larger than she is.**_

_**All criticism and reviews are welcome!**_

_**Original cover art is from shinygiratinas Tumblr.**_

_**Thank you for reading!**_

_**Wish you all good health and stay safe.**_


	8. A Glimpse Into The Past

_**Before dwelling back into the cave, I decided that now might be a good time to delve into the Koopalings orphanage days.**_

_**Hope you all enjoy a bit of backstory.**_

_**(Rated T for language, alcohol use, violence and mild sexual themes.)**_

* * *

_**Several Years ago**_

"_Hmm… can't decide if my claws look better with scarlet or burgundy."_ Wendy thought as she compared the colors on her claw-tips.

She was currently sitting alone on the old, rundown stone stairs in front of the orphanage, enjoying the beautiful weather being bestowed on the Kingdom.

A large storm ravaged throughout the Darklands, punishing the area with heavy rain and strong winds for weeks until early today.

The dark cumulonimbus clouds that covered the skies have now moved on towards the mountains to the north, finally letting the sun shine on the wet terrain and the bright blue sky bless itself over the land.

The temperature was warm, a gentle breeze blew throughout the Kingdom, and if you look close enough you can spot a rainbow in the far horizon. It is just the definition of a perfect, sunny day.

Sadly, gorgeous days like this only come a couple times throughout the year.

The positive/negative part of living in the Darklands, depending on who you ask.

So to make the most out of today, she decided to mess around with the make-up kit she _'borrowed' _from an unsupervised purse in a nearby village.

The kit came with several different nail polish colors, pink lip gloss and some eye shadow. It wasn't the luxurious kind, but it was sufficient enough for her to try.

Plus she can't really complain, mostly now as supplies and resources for the orphanage are abysmally scarce.

So any type of item that either she or her siblings want had to be…** borrowed**.

She doesn't like to say stealing, it's such a strong word to implicate their actions, even though they don't plan on returning any of the _'borrowed'_ items anytime soon.

"_**It's survival of the fittest out there." **_is what her older brother Roy would always say whenever she felt guilty of taking another person's belongings.

"Hey Wendy! Up here!" A voice called out to her from above.

She looked up and saw Lemmy and Iggy waving at her from the second story window, the twins matching each other with the same rainbow colored Mohawk's, Iggy's thick glasses being the one thing that distinguishes the duo.

"We're here to tell you that Ludwig has called everyone in for a group meeting, he's ready to tell all of us his plan for the next supply raid." Iggy informed her.

She scoffed at the announcement, finding it to be utterly stupid.

Why can't Ludwig just accept the fact that this orphanage is a lost cause, the whole building is deteriorating as we speak, they're barely making it through the week with the short amount of supplies they have, and their caretaker, she… she's long gone.

A look of depression and sadness displayed upon her face as she recalls the old lady who was the owner of the orphanage, she supervised them all, making sure they were all fed and cared for.

She was the beacon of hope for seven lonely orphans, filling their little minds with blissful dreams of being adopted to caring, loving families.

But those hopes and dreams died along with her, as the only thing left is a dying building filled with seven… unwanted… worthless children who are resorting themselves into beating up and robbing from several innocent villagers just so they can survive for the night.

_Ludwig's been here since he was born, far longer than any of us have, why doesn't he understand that it's over, no one's gonna adopt any of us. We should've just gone with her plan and just run far away from here and start a new life… the seven of them… together. It's not like anyone will try to go after them._

"Are you coming sister Wendy?" Lemmy's high pitched voice snapped her back into reality.

"Tell him that I'll be there, after I finished coloring my nails." She said, returning to what she was doing.

Iggy raised an eyebrow at her answer, "You know Ludwig doesn't like it when you keep him waiting."

"If he doesn't like it, he can do me a favor and kiss my ass!" She replied back, satisfied with the insult she threw.

Lemmy covered his mouth in horror after hearing her profanity.

"Oooh, you said a bad word! I'm going to tell on you!" He yelled, dashing back inside to inform the eldest of her misdeed.

Iggy stared down at Wendy, shaking his head in disappointment before following suit.

She rolled her eyes in annoyance, not all that concerned of the lecture she'll be receiving from her older brother.

So she carried on with painting her nails, deciding to go with scarlet as the color had the most spark.

_If the kit only had pink, it would've matched my bow-tie…_

The sound of the front door's opening caught her attention as she turned around, praying that it wasn't Roy being sent to drag her inside.

But instead of the pink headed troglodyte, she saw 'Big Mouth' Morton exit out of the building with a glum expression, quickly sitting himself right next to her.

Wendy internally groaned, knowing full well that he'll just talk to her non-stop about who knows what for a whole hour.

_Might as well hear him out, it'll at least give me an excuse for being late to the meeting._

"Alright Morton, give me what you got." She said in a defeated tone.

"..." He didn't respond as he continued to gaze at the floor.

His silence causes her to flick her eyes left and right, utterly perplexed that he hasn't said a single word.

_This can't be for real, am I dreaming?_

"Um… Morton?" She queried, poking him in the arm to make sure this wasn't a dream.

"... Hi." He meekly replied after being poked on for several seconds.

Wendy blinked at his timid response, usually he would speak louder and with a lot of confidence, but right now he's acting like the complete opposite of himself.

She continued on painting her nails, taking quick glances at him to see if he'll begin talking. Before she knew it, she had finished coating her claws in scarlet and the chatterbox still hadn't uttered a sentence.

"Hey, are you ok?" She worriedly asks.

Morton gently rubbed his left arm before answering, "It's nothing… just that I bothered Larry and he yelled at me."

_Ah, that explains it._

The youngest sibling has been in a bad mood all day, lashing out at everyone after they informed him that his tricycle has been…_ 'stolen'_.

In reality, they secretly traded his precious ride for a crate of food that will last them a couple of days. They did this without him knowing, and Ludwig has warned her and the rest that it better stay that way.

Poor Larry, they didn't want to do it, but they desperately needed food.

"You want me to smack that jerk?" She jokes, hoping that would brighten Morton a bit.

Sadly, it didn't seem to have much effect as he still looked down with a downcasted expression.

"No, it's okay… I forgive him." He asserted.

"Suit yourself." She said as she shrugs her shoulders.

She decides to gaze at the glamorous blue sky, staring at it in awe at it's gorgeousness. Morton sees this and copies her, looking up at the sky, but not in wonder or amazement, but rather in contemplation as a strenuous question pops into his mind.

"Wendy… are we ever gonna get adopted?" He abruptly asks.

She freezes in shock, not at the question being asked, but that Morton would be the first one to query about it.

Out of all her brother's, Morton is the one who was always optimistic at the thought of all of them being adopted, profoundly speaking about the hope of being taken in and loved by a family who chose them for hours on end.

So hearing him cast doubt at his own belief baffled her to the core.

Guess it was a matter of time before he figured it out himself, but… should she lie to him? Just so he can keep that small glimmer of hope in his heart.

_Sometimes… it's better to tell the truth._

"Honestly buddy…" She pauses, finding it difficult to say.

"... No." She finishes, letting out a puff of air she didn't know she was holding.

Unbeknownst to Wendy, Morton's face morphed into heartbreak.

"Larry was right, it's all my fault." He mumbles quietly to himself as tears began to drip from his eyes.

He quickly stands up and bolts to the front entrance.

"I'm sorry Sis." He blurts out before running inside.

"Morton?" She calls out, but he was long gone.

_Crap, maybe that wasn't the best idea._

She rapidly puts everything back in the make-up kit and places it inside her shell before rushing in after him, but just as she enters inside, she bumps into Roy, the force of the impact causing her to fall back on the floor.

"There you are! Now come on, Ludwig is waitin' for you." He exclaims as he picks her up and hoists her over his shoulder.

Wendy tries to wrestle her way off his grip, but he was holding on to her tightly.

"Let me go, Roy! I need to get to Morton! Didn't you see him run in here crying!?"

"Course I saw him cryin', but you need to let him grow a spine, Sis. Plus, this is Morton we're talkin' about, he'll get over it by tomorrow." Roy assures her as he adjusts her position over his shoulder to make it comfortable for the both of them.

She attempts to tussle her way out of his clutches agiain, but eventually gives up and falls limp to his grasp.

_*sigh* Roy's right, I need to let Morton grow a pair. Whatever he's dealing with is probably just a phase, by tomorrow he'll be back to his normal self… _

_I'm sure he'll be fine._

* * *

_**Author notes:**_

_**I would like to give thanks to StarlitDuck and guests for their thoughtful reviews!**_

_**Any feedback or critcism are welcome!**_

_**Original cover art is from shinygiratinas Tumblr.**_

_**Thank you for reading!**_

_**Wish you all good health and stay safe.**_


	9. Between a Rock and a Hard Place

_**I know I haven't updated since late May and I'm sorry for that. Been dealing with work related issues with the pandemic still hanging around, so I haven't been having much free time to write. **_

_**Also had to do many re-edits in this chapter as I tried to keep it somewhat linear.**_

_**Hope you all enjoy it!**_

_**(Rated T for language, alcohol use, violence and mild sexual themes.)**_

* * *

"_Wendy!?" _She could hear someone calling her name as the familiar voice echoed in her mind.

_Mmm… just… five more minutes, please._

"_Wendy!?"_ she heard it again as she felt her body being roughly shaken.

She stirs in her sleep, shuttering her eyelids tighter after being disturbed from her slumber.

"**WENDY!?" **The voice roared out, jolting her wide awake.

But as she opened her eyes, she couldn't see a thing as everything around her was pitch black. However, she could sense something towering over her, feeling massive hands softly clutching her arms.

"Is Wendy okay?" The voice gently asked.

She could already guess who the mysterious voice belonged to, but just to be safe, she began to rub the arms holding her in a gingerly manner, her soft touch feeling the wet pudgy skin of her helder.

_I know who's arms this is._

She reaches out and pats his chest before stroking his face, pinching the edges of his muzzle.

_I definitely know who's face this is._

"M-Morton?" Wendy groggily murmurs, barely seeing his silhouette in the darkness.

The giant Koopaling lets out a sigh of relief before pulling her in a warm embrace, she quickly returns the favor, wrapping her arms around his torso and smudges her face on his chest.

Even though her nostrils were breathing in the strong smell of his musk and sweat, she didn't really care, as she felt safe and protected in his arms.

The hug lasted for a minute before they eventually let go of each other.

"Is Wendy hurt?" He questions, helping her stand up.

Just when she was going to say she's alright, she grimaces as a sharp pain flows through her right ankle after applying pressure on it.

Morton notices this instantly and carefully lifts up her foot, gently rotating it clockwise. She clenches her teeth as the pain roars back with a vengeance.

"Wendy strains ankle, she needs rest." He advises her, preparing to sit her down.

But she rapidly declines his attempt, "Oh no you don't! There's no way I'm gonna sit down and do nothing while you do all the work! My ankle may be strained, but I still have two arms in my disposal. So hoist me on your shoulders!" She commands.

Morton reels back in surprise before smiling warmly at her, admiring her strong will as he happily oblige her wishes. He kneels down and patiently waits as Wendy lifts one leg on each of his shoulders before standing straight up.

She grabs a hold of the top of his head, using it to keep herself steady. With her vision finally adjusting to the darkness, she can gaze in awe at how high she is from the ground right now.

_So this is what it's like to be tall, no wonder Lord Junior loves to ride on Morton's shoulders._

The numerous large boulders blocking the front entrance of the tunnel catches her eye.

"Alright big guy, take us closer to the rocks over there."

He did as told and headed towards that direction, from what they can both assess, the entrance was sealed shut by several yards of debris. Any attempt at moving the boulders from their position would be highly dangerous as there's the risk of the tunnel collapsing again, crushing them both in the process.

_Well, at least you don't have to pay back your college debt if you're dead._

She cringes at her own thoughts.

_I… probably need to see a therapist._

"HELLO! ANYONE THERE!" Wendy yells, hoping that someone could hear her through the thick layer of rocks.

Morton helps her out by trudging closer to it, giving her more of a chance to be heard from the other side.

"HELLO! HELP US PLEASE! MY BROTHER AND I ARE TRAPPED IN HERE!" She yells louder as her screams echoed throughout the tunnel.

Sadly, there was no response whatsoever, probably because no one is around to hear her cries.

She lets out a yelp as Morton turns the other way, taking a few steps before sitting down, continuing to hold her on his shoulders.

"Uh… what are you doing?" she questions him as he crosses his legs and stares at the blocked entrance.

"Morton's waiting for help." He informs her.

"How do you know? Heck, do they even know we're stuck here?"

He tilts his head back to look at her, giving her an assuring smile, "They'll come. Can Wendy trust Morton?"

She gazes down at her younger brother, her face softening at his calming grin.

"Yeah, I trust you… but they better hurry though." Wendy replies as she rests her chin on his head.

* * *

_**Meanwhile…**_

"Explain to me how people like you got my number!" The Big Boss yells at his phone, pacing around in frustration.

He was striding near the empty dirt road, currently in a heated phone call with a representative of a children hospital who is looking for donations from kind and helpful hearts.

Sadly the Big Boss' heart ain't too kind nor helpful.

"Why should I donate to the sick children of your hospital? What have they ever done for me!?" He spouts.

"Big Boss, we have a problem!?" A hammer bro covered in ash shouts as he runs up to him .

"R.J.! It's good to see you!" Big Boss joyfully exclaims, not because he was truly happy at seeing him, but rather because he had a reason to hang up the call.

"As you can hear ma'am, I'm an offly busy person. So good luck scamming another hard working rich man from his hard earned money,** GOODBYE!**" He yells, hanging up the phone before turning to his worker with a scornful look.

"This better be good R.J. , that dirt all over your body better be because you were working hard!"

The dust-covered hammer bro coughs several times as the dust enters his airways before explaining everything to his boss, "R.J. was working normally, hitting rock until me feel shaking and then hear a large BOOM! Then big dust cloud comes from below, so R.J. and friends runs back up to be safe."

He goes into another coughing fit as dust re-enters his airways, a look of concern spreads across the Big Boss' face as he sprints towards the front entrance of the mine where he sees smoke coming out from it and several of his workers standing around, all of them covered in ash.

The green spike surveyed the crowd, noticing two prominent individuals that were missing. A surge of hysteria flowed through his body as he thought of the worse. He quickly runs up to a worker and pulls him down to his level.

"Dimitri! Where is Morton and the girl!" He asks in a panicked tone.

The miner stutters at his alarmed boss, "D-Dimitri thinks they're trapped down there."

Big Boss' body freezes into place after his suspicions were confirmed, he gazes at the mine with dread.

_Oh no… _

…

…

…

* * *

"Ugh, they are taking forever!" Wendy groaned in vexation after an hour passed with no sign of rescue.

_Shouldn't have left my wand and phone back up there, it would've been real useful right now._

The temperature and humidity wasn't helping either as the tunnel started feeling like an oven, leaving the trapped duo sweating bullets due to the extreme heat. She could literally feel it after adjusting herself on his shoulders as she felt wetness below her thighs.

_Don't know if the sweat's mine, Morton's, or a mixture of both._

"Does Wendy want to play a game with Morton?" He asked in an attempt to lighten her mood up.

She paused in thought, finding it to be a good suggestion to kill some time, "Why not, there's nothing better to do. What game do you have in mind?"

He tapped his chin before giving his answer in an excited tone, "Ooh, Morton wants to play twenty one questions!"

_Twenty one questions, huh? _

"You know what? Let's do it, I'll let you go first."

He clapped his hands in delightment, overjoyed that he was chosen to start first before he asked her the first question.

"What is Wendy's favorite color?"

"Pink, obviously."

"What is Wendy's favorite food?"

"Mmm, gotta love me some steak." She answers in elation.

She licks her chomps as pleasing memories resurface in her mind. Whenever there's a nice, clear summer day (A rare anomaly in their homeland), Lord Bowser would call all of them to the Castle's backyard where he'll make a killer ass barbecue.

Hot dogs, Burgers, smoked ribs and the owe so famous steak, Lord Bowser knows how to make them and he makes them perfectly. Her mouth waters at the image of a grilled steak with mashed potatoes and gravy in her hands, but it vanishes after returning to reality.

_Thanks a lot Morton, I'm now really hungry._

"Wendy's favorite movie?" He continued questioning.

"Bridesmaids, gosh that movie was hilarious."

"Favorite song?"

"Hard to pick just one, let's just say that I like most pop music."

Wendy suddenly felt her left arm being tugged down, she looked below and saw Morton's massive hand grasping it tightly whilst staring at her intently.

"Does Wendy have a boyfriend?" He asks her in a serious tone.

She rolls her eyes in annoyance, of course a question like that would pop up.

She'll never understand why her brothers made it their mission to drive any potential love interest away from her in record time, she's grateful for their concern, but she can handle herself… most of the time.

It's been a long while since her last romantic flame, she misses the nights where her date would take her to a nice restaurant, then take her somewhere fun like a carnival or a sports game before bringing her back home in the hopes that a second date was in order.

The farthest she's ever gone was a long wet kiss and she desperately wanted more, but her siblings placed their foot down, telling her that's as far as she could go. It infuriates her that they're meddling in and controlling her personal life while they can do whatever the hell they want with theirs, Roy especially as he hooks up with random girls on a daily basis and claps cheeks like his life depended on it.

Yet you don't see the rest of her brothers complain about his acts.

_Life is so unfair…_

"No, she does not have one because her overprotective brothers always scare them off." Wendy answers in an irritated tone.

Morton lets go of her arm and grins widely, proud of the answer he received, "Good."

He rubs his chin for several seconds until a new question pops into his head.

"Who's Wendy's favorite brother?"

_Mmm… The questions are getting juicier._

This turned out to be a complicated question since each one of her brothers had their pros and cons.

While Ludwig can be very self-absorbent, not afraid of proclaiming how much smarter and better he is to everyone around him. She'll give him credit to things due as the eldest has proven to be one of the wisest and most reliable of the bunch, always seeming to know how to get out of sticky situations and granting helpful guidance to his younger siblings.

Wendy isn't gonna lie, she could really use his guidance right about now.

Even though she and Roy always seem to butt heads, they both share an inner soft spot for each other, often engaging in long, meaningful conversations with one another. Plus, they always seem to have the best chemistry when in the battlefield, her rebellious nature mixed with his tough guy persona were a force to be wreckin' with.

Lemmy is already in her top three with cuteness alone, like how can anyone hate the little guy.

Iggy… well… he's… weird… and strangely funny?

She really needs to spend more time with him, probably when all of this is over, she'll invite him to hang out with her. Maybe spend an afternoon roaming around the mall and mess around with the locals, just the two of them.

She makes sure to keep a mental note of that for their next encounter.

Her relationship with Larry has grown significantly stronger after the heist yesterday, their bond becoming much closer to what it was previously. Which in retrospect was little to none since they didn't interact as much after being taken in by Bowser.

Her relationship with Lord Junior however, was different to the rest in regard that he was the only one she took care of since he was a baby. When she arrived at the orphanage and met the rest of the Koopalings for the first time, most of them had already predominantly developed as they were walking on two legs and uttering complete sentences.

For Junior on the other hand, she knew him since he was inside of an egg.

She recalls the fond memories she had when taking care of him after he hatched, remembering how Lord Bowser would let her cradle him in her arms, feeding him milk through his little bottle and pinching his tiny cheeks while doing funny faces causing baby junior to let out the cutest giggles she's ever heard.

Nowadays, she would still try to pinch his cheeks and cuddle an older Bowser Junior, the latter usually grumbling and fighting his way from being treated as a baby.

Wendy chuckles internally as she recounts how the biggest wish she had back then was to have a baby of her own, a wish she takes back completely as that's currently the last thing she wants to deal with.

Maybe when she's a bit older, but as of now, she's far too young.

And as for Morton, well… even though she's trapped in an enclosed cavern sweating her ass off, she couldn't have asked for a better person to be stuck with. His generous and loving nature has always brightened her day and strung a chord in her heart.

"I like all my brothers equally. Secretly however… I love Morton the most." Wendy replied, hugging his face and placed a fat kiss on his forehead.

Her affectionate answer causes him to cover his face to hide the blush on his cheeks.

"Wendy is making Morton blush!" He cried as his face burned up red in joyful embarrassment.

She giggles at his reaction, "So do you have any more questions?"

He shakes his head, looking to have settled down a bit, "No, Morton would like to leave it at that."

"Well okay then, guess it's my turn." she said as she decided to ask similar questions like he had.

"All right you big oaf, what is _your_ favorite color?"

"Morton likes the color chocolate because it's the color of chocolate."

"Hmm… and with that information, I'm guessing your favorite food is…"

"**CHOCOLATE CAKE!**" Morton shouts in glee.

"Can Big sister Wendy make Morton a cake when we go home?" He asks, tilting his head back to look at her.

"Hold it, I thought I was the one asking the questions."

"... please?" he implores, pouting his lips and displaying big puppy eyes.

"_*sigh*_ Ugh… fine, but you have to share some with me." She relented as the puppy eyes were too much for her to handle.

Morton squeals in delight knowing that his sister was going to bake one of her specialties for him, just imagining the taste of the delicious substance made him incredibly hungry.

"Anyway, back to topic! What is your favorite sport?" Wendy queries, bringing her brother back at the game in hand.

"Morton loves wrestling, me favorite wrestler is Wario-Man!" He proudly declares, flexing his muscles in the process.

Wendy wasn't very impressed, "Seriously? Out of all the wrestlers, you like the arrogant, gas-inducing blob?"

"Hey! Wario-man is the best! Wendy only likes the girl wrestlers!"

"Not really, most of the wrestling girls are just models in bikinis who are placed on live television just so the network can receive higher ratings by appealing to the majority male demographic." she explains to him in broad detail.

Morton blinks for a moment as he slowly processes her words, "Wendy… maybe right. The girl wrestlers are very pretty."

"Pretty huh?" she suddenly grabs on to the three hairs on his head and pulls his head behind so he can look straight at her. Morton yelps at the surprise tug as he stares upward in fear.

"Alright mister! You gave me hassle with this before, now it's my turn. Do **you** have a girlfriend!?"

"M-Morton doesn't have girlfriend. G-Girls have cooties!" he stutters, totally sounding unconvincing.

"I call bullcrap on that, little bro! I'm well aware you're past that age after catching you jackin' it not that long ago! Now be a good boy and spill it out!"

Morton nervously stares at her for a moment before letting out a long sigh, "Morton doesn't have a girlfriend… Morton too scared to get one." he sincerely answers.

Wendy immediately stops pulling his hair as her face softens at his response.

"Why are you scared to have one?"

He hesitates to answer her question, contemplating if he should reveal what he's been hiding for a long time.

_Should I do this? It's been so long… I don't think I can keep it up anymore._

"I… um… Morton's not… sure if he suited to have one." he replies meekly, kicking himself internally from chickening out on telling her the complete truth.

She laughs a bit, finding his response a teeny bit dumb, "Pfft, Morton you're the nicest person I know, you may not be the smartest of the bunch, but you've got a heart that a lot of girls would faun over. Also, you're really strong and well-built, which is a plus."

He slowly nods at her compliment, honestly finding it somewhat comforting.

"Morton is very thankful… does Wendy mind if I can ask her one question?" he asks, wanting to change the subject.

"Of course, go ahead."

"Wendy said that she catch Morton, uh… jackin it." He questions her, not really sure he said the phrase right.

She clears her throat as not so fond memories of her younger brother's misdeed crawled back in her head, "Yes… that is correct."

…

"Was Morton's big?"

"**MORTON! OH MY GOD!"**

* * *

Five individuals were currently traveling down the mine in search of the two missing Koopalings, three of them are miners who are following the Big Boss' along with another person he personally called for aid.

"I appreciate that you're willing to help me out here, I recalled you back at the University of Goom and remembered you were the smartest one of the bunch." he compliments the individual to his right.

"Well, I'm always happy to help those in need, but why me? I'm just an archaeology major." a feminine voice tells the short spike.

"Exactly! Ain't archaeologists good with rocks and shit?"

"Archaeologists investigate prehistoric sites and physical remains to better understand the past." She clarifies the basic summary of her career to the boss who flipped his hand in disinterest.

"Close enough! Besides, you're Professor Frankly's assistant, who is a good friend of mine."

She raises an eyebrow at the newfound information, "You two know each other?"

"I fund some of his research projects. Anyway, I need to keep this whole mine situation… under wraps from the authorities." he prompts.

"Um, Why did you want to hide this from the emergency services?"

"It's because this involves Morton Koopa Jr. and his sister, I forgot her name. But they're King Bowser's Koopalings and I really, _really_ don't want to have problems with him. If he catches word about this accident and koopa forbids they end up hurt or worse, I'll either be locked away forever or boiled in molten lava. So could you please help me figure this out and keep this a secret, Miss... "

"Goombella." The blonde-haired female goomba finishes for him. "And don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

* * *

"Wendy only has three more questions left." Morton informs his sister who was currently thinking of something to ask him.

She snaps her fingers after remembering the large sumo bro miner from before who was speaking in the third person.

"I overheard another miner speak in the third person, kind of like you do. Does everyone here speak the same way?"

He nods his head in affirmation, "Most Miners here not have enough money to go to school, they join the Koopa Troop or work here. Miners here are young like you and Morton."

Wendy felt a tinge of sadness upon hearing that. The Kingdom's public education system overall was lackluster at best since most of the money was poured into the military and isn't inclusive to everyone, especially those from poorer villages and communities.

Without a proper education, many have to resort to taking back-breaking and potentially dangerous jobs like mining or construction work.

And if those aren't viable options, then your only alternative was to join the Koopa Troop which many would do.

"Th-That's horrible." She comments, finding the whole thing upsetting.

It's times like these that she's grateful in being taken in by Lord Bowser and raised in an environment of wealth and royalty, without it she wouldn't have been able to receive decent schooling or even have the luxury to attend college and get her PhD, even though she kind of regrets it now.

Who knows where she and her siblings lives would've been if they stayed in that rundown orphanage, and it's a thought she rather not delve in for too long.

"So… Did you learn to speak in the third person from them?"

"When Morton started working here, me liked how they talk. Short and simple. So Morton began speaking like them." He explains to her.

She nodded slowly, but there was something still nagging her about it, "There's just one thing I don't get, back when we were in the orphanage you loved to talk and you spoke… well, normally. Then one day, you just stopped speaking and for years you were really, really quiet. What happened?"

"Uh…"

"I also asked Kamek and Kammy about it and they said it was more of a _"personal change"_. What do they mean by that, Morton?"

"U-Um… well… M-Morton…" He couldn't even speak correctly as he stuttered immensely trying to find an answer for her.

Wendy catches sight of him struggling to respond, "You don't have to give me an answer if you don't want too."

His mouth quivered as hundreds of words tried to force their way out of his mouth, years of complete paragraphs of speech threatening to burst its way out by force.

_Come on, man! Let it all out! Wendy deserves to know, she'll understand!_

**"MORTON! GIRL! ARE YOU STILL ALIVE IN THERE!"** The Big boss' booming voice called out to them from the other side of the barricade.

Morton immediately stood up and trudged closer to the sealed entrance, undeniably relieved on the perfect timing of the distraction.

His abrupt motion nearly caused Wendy to fall down from his shoulders, but she was quick enough to hold on to his forehead.

"Big Boss! Morton and Wendy are here!" Morton notifies him.

The boss sighed in relief at the sound of his voice, "Oh thank goomba! Any of you hurt!?"

"Morton is fine, but Wendy ankle strained!"

The boss dragged his hand on his face upon hearing about the girl's injury.

_Ain't that great! I'm in big trouble now._

"Don't you worry guys, I have someone here that'll help you out of this deathtrap." He turns to Goombella with a worried look, "Please tell me that's possible."

Goombella walked closer to the debris blocking the tunnel, observing it closely and analyzing for a possible solution. Back in the University of Goom, excavation and rescue services was one of the classes she was required to take in order to complete her archaeology degree.

When digging and investigating old historical sites, sometimes accidents occur, causing fellow archaeologists or other workers to be trapped below the rubble. The point of the whole class is to be used to save those who are stuck in a very careful and delicate manner so they can be rescued with minimal injuries at most.

But in order to begin the process, she needed to know some important details first.

"Do the two of you have any idea how the collapse started?"

"Yes, we were drilling with this heavy machine until cracks started forming. Soon after, it started to collapse." Wendy tells her.

"_Hmm… the top of the tunnel must have been weak and unstable. Maybe a lack of support?"_ Goombella thought.

"Wendy is it? Were there any support beams attached by the walls when you two were mining?"

Wendy looks around her, only spotting the broken flashlight and the large drill machine several feet away. There was no sign of any support beam at all.

"No, none from what I can see." Wendy informs Goombella, confirming her suspicions.

From what she can theorize, the collapse happened due to lack of weight support from the side walls, a tactic necessary to avoid danger while digging under unstable rock formations. Come to think of it, Goombella notices there were little to no wooden planks or beams of any kind when walking down the mine, there were also a lack of lights in certain areas underground making it hard to know exactly where you're going.

"I've been here for less than fifteen minutes and I already see tons of safety violations throughout this mine." she berates the boss beside her.

He flails his arm in an exasperated manner, "Oh come on! I thought you were here to help me, not to get me in more trouble."

"You wouldn't have this problem if you actually cared for your worker's safety!" she counters.

"Don't give me that! I'm a good boss and I care for my workers, ain't that right fellas?"

The three workers behind them flicked their eyes toward each other, unsure of what to say before nervously nodding their heads in agreement.

The Big Boss points at them while staring straight at Goombella, "You see!"

She rolls her eyes before addressing the two koopalings, "Okay you two, the good news is that with the right equipment we'll be able to get you outta there safely, bad news is that the rescue process needs to be taken slowly and carefully, so it'll take a while."

An uneasy feeling crept up Wendy's head upon hearing that, "How long exactly?"

"If we start today, you'll both be free by next week!"

"**NEXT WEEK!?" **Wendy shrieks.

"Not to worry miss Wendy, food and water will be brought to the both of you through a small tube that will be drilled through the right side-"

"I can't be stuck here in a week! Can't you get us out of here any faster?!" Wendy interrupts her.

Goombella raises an eyebrow at her desperation, "I'm sorry Wendy, but this is a delicate process that shouldn't be rushed for yours and Morton's own safety."

"Please Goombella! There's gotta be another way, I beg you!" Wendy pleads.

The Big Boss groans in annoyance, "Stop your whining! She told you already how it's gonna be, so stop being such a pretentious, little bitch!"

Before Wendy could retort back at him with a piece of her mind, Morton would yell back at his Boss.

"**DON'T TALK TO MY SISTER THAT WAY!" **He growls loudly, startling everyone in the vicinity.

It shocked the boss and the three other workers as Morton is mainly known to be very soft spoken, so hearing him yell like that baffled them completely.

Goombella took a couple steps back in fear after hearing his powerful growl, even though she can't see him through the blocked entrance, she can already imagine the large, threatening figure the voice belonged to.

Wendy on the other hand was surprised at the fact that he didn't address himself in the third person.

Once Morton realizes his outburst, he lowers his head in shame.

"M-Morton sorry, M-Morton didn't mean to." he apologizes, stuttering a bit.

"Shh, it's okay, big guy. You did nothing wrong." said Wendy, caressing the top of his head in a gingerly manner.

At the other side of the rubble, the boss rubs the back of his neck while gazing down with a guilty look, "It's alright kid, that was my fault, I went too far." he apologizes to them.

After the slight scare, Goombella walks closer to the sealed entrance, "Miss Wendy, if you don't mind me asking, why do you want to leave as quickly as possible? Are you scared of the dark? Claustrophobic?" She asks her, theorizing any possible motive.

Wendy sighs before explaining herself to the blonde haired Goomba, "I have to pay back my university by Friday, if I don't I'm gonna be in trouble with the law."

A small smile spreads across Goombella's lips, "Huh, small world."

"You too?" Wendy blurts out in surprise.

"Proud graduate of U Goom, and not so proud owner of several thousands in college debt." The sparkly archaeologist admits to her.

Wendy grins widely at the utter coincidence, "So you get my situation! Please Goombella, can you help us out here?"

Goombella ponders a bit before accepting the new challenge, "I'll see what I can do."

She turns to the boss, "Do you have any blueprints of the mine?"

"Yeah, I have one in here." He says, reaching into his sweat filled suit and taking out a partially wet blueprint. "Sorry about the sweat, it's been a long day."

Goombella rolls her eyes before snatching the blueprint off his hand, surprising the boss as she grasps and unfolds the paper with invisible hands.

"Let's see here."

She inspects the layout of the underground mine, honestly impressed by the format and details encrypted on the page. Based on the blueprint, the mine was slightly over one kilometer deep with several mini tunnels branching from the main path.

What catches her eyes however, was the illustration of an area right below them. It's like some sort of hollow chamber with several exits and entryways, pointy rock formations and a large body of water.

_That place kind of reminds me of an excavation trip inside the old Goomba caverns I took with Professor Frankly and Kooper a couple years back._

…

…

_Wait a second…_

Upon closer inspection, she could see too many similarities for it to be a coincidence.

"No wonder this area looked familiar! You're illegally mining over the old Goomba caverns!"

The green spike cringed at Goombella finding out the truth, "I wouldn't say illegally, I signed the correct permits!" he sputtered pathetically.

This infuriated the small archaeologist, "You are literally destroying a historical recreational landmark, for what!? Just to fill up your own greedy pockets!"

"Listen here lady! I got the okay from Professor Frankly to drill in this very spot, so stop insinuating that I'm the bad guy here!"

Goombella froze in shock at the revelation.

_The P-Professor knew about this! No, it can't be true._

"No, you're a liar! Professor Frankly would never do something like that!"

"Remember, I help fund your boss' projects. But if he wants my financial help, he's gonna have to aid me in receiving profit. So we made a deal where I'll lend him some money while he gifts me permits to mine in areas rumored to have valuable resources. It's called business, sweetheart." The green spike finishes with the biggest shit-eating grin possible.

Goombella was ready to throw hands (even of lack thereof), but decided against it since her main focus should be getting Wendy and Morton out of their predicament.

"We'll continue this conversation after we rescue the two Koopalings. Just know that this isn't over." She seethes.

He was about to retort until she glared menacingly back at him, in which he rapidly zipped his mouth shut.

"Listen up you two, if my calculations are correct, you are right above one of the small lakes of a sacred site. If you can dig down you might fall into it, but it's risky, if you dig in the wrong place, the whole ceiling above you will collapse." Goombella notifies the duo.

Wendy grimaces at the alternate outcome, not liking the image of plastered dragon koopas. Neither does she like the image of herself handcuffed and in front of a court where she awaits her punishment.

"What you think, little bro?" she asks Morton, hoping to hear his opinion in the matter.

He contemplates on the question at hand, at one side this risky move could possibly crush them to death, and on the other hand it would give them a chance of escape, which is better than staying in this dark and boiling chamber for a whole week.

If they opt to stay, there's a large chance Wendy won't be able to pay off the money she owes. The last thing he wants is to see his older sister being taken away to jail.

Plus the prospect of eating one of her gourmet chocolate cakes tonight was really enticing.

"Morton says we do it." he said, firmly nodding his head

Wendy smirked, nodding back at him. "We're going for the drill, Goombella!"

"Wait, What!?" The Boss said in bafflement after hearing her answer.

Goombella smirked at the boss' reaction, "You heard the lady, turd! Now let's head to one of the enclosed entrances of the old caverns, we'll meet the two of them there." she states waltzing away with the three others following closely behind.

The boss watched the group walk away before engaging with the trapped duo, "Listen you two, I know you guys wanna leave as soon as possible, but maybe you should think more into it." he begged with the two siblings.

As he was pleading, Morton picked up the drill machine and set it up. Waiting for his sister to give him the sign to advance.

"Our minds are made up Boss. We're doing this." responded Wendy.

"B-B-But…" He sputters until Goombella yells at him from afar.

"Hey, short stack! Let's go!"

The green spike sighs in defeat before following his retreating workers and the blonde-haired goomba, "Who are you calling a short stack!? You're short too!" he retorts as they made their way out of the mine.

With the group walking out, Morton and Wendy were getting ready to begin drilling again. Morton lifted Wendy off his shoulders and gently placed her in front of him, making sure her back was pressed to him and leaned himself a bit forward to shield her of any possible falling debris.

But before he could press the button, Wendy grabbed a hold of his arm, "You do know how to swim, right!?" she worriedly asks.

"Uh… Y-Yes, Morton knows how to swim." he lies, knowing full well that if he tells her the truth, she would halt the whole thing.

She let go of his arm, taking his word for it, "O-Okay… I believe you."

Wendy took a deep breath before praying for a miracle, "Oh dear lord Shigeru Miyamoto, watch over us."

With that said, she nods her head to Morton, affirming him to turn on the drill.

As it ingrained itself to the ground, the area around them instantly began to rumble as small rocks came falling from the ceiling, cracks started forming on the ground around the drill, expanding itself below their feet. Morton started to have second thoughts as he gently tried to lift the machine from drilling until Wendy placed her hands over his and pushed downwards.

The cave shook violently as even larger rocks fell from above, one of them hitting Morton squarely on the head. He groans in pain before inclining himself forward so the boulders would hit him instead of his sister.

The floor soon weakened to the point of rupture as the two closed their eyes and braced for the worst until the floor under them collapsed, plundering the two Koopalings to the depths below.

Her body splashes hard on a large body of water, nearly knocking the air out of her. Her eyes tried to adjust to the underwater environment, as soon as she could see clearly, she dodged to the right as large rocks nearly collided with her.

Wendy rapidly swam upwards, trying her best to ignore the pain she felt on her strained ankle. Once she reached above water, she gazed at her surroundings and was happy to see that Goombella's theory was correct. From what she can muster, they've seemed to have landed on a lake in the middle of a underground cavern. The area looked like a maze seeing that there were multiple paths around them.

"Morton! We're home free!" she shouts in glee.

However, she gets no response.

Panic surged through Wendy as she frantically looked around her for any sign of her brother.

"**MORTON!"** She shouts, but there was still no sign of him anywhere.

She begins to hyperventilate as dark thoughts fill her mind of her brother's fate.

_No, Please no! Not my little brother!_

She takes one long breath before diving underwater in search of him, doing her best to swim with an injury.

Out of everyone living in the Castle, Wendy is the most skilled swimmer as she can swim for a large amount of time at above average speeds, a talent that earned her an Olympic medal. She also has the ability to hold her breath for several minutes, a skill vital whenever she's tasked for underwater assignments.

As she plunges deeper, her eyes widens in alarm after spotting Morton frantically flailing his arms and legs around in an attempt to get above water. Wendy rushes behind him, placing her hands under his arms as she tries to lift him upward.

She would hear Morton gag as he was on the verge of drowning. Without a moment to lose, she swims in front of him and presses her mouth to his, gifting him with some of her air. He recoils in shock until he figures out what she was actually doing.

After granting him newfound air, she wraps her arms around his chest and with all her strength, swam towards the surface. A task proven to be extremely difficult as Morton was very heavy and the strain in her ankle ached fiercely, causing her to lose a lot of breath to the point where she felt she was gonna drown soon.

Luckily, she managed to reach the surface at the last possible second as both she and Morton gasped for oxygen. Wendy slowly heads to the edge of the lake with her brother in tow, where they crawled on land before collapsing to exhaustion.

As the adrenaline went away, Wendy gritted her teeth as the pain in her ankle spreaded to her leg, causing her to tear up and cry as the pain became unbearable.

Upon hearing her cries, Morton crawls towards her direction to calm her down, a move that turns out to be the worst as Wendy begins to furiously attack him with punches and slaps.

"**YOU IDIOT! YOU SAID YOU COULD SWIM!"** she spat, continuing to punch and slap his arm with all her might.

He let her hit his arm as he barely felt the pummels until she ran out of energy.

But soon after she ends her assault, she grabs a hold of his head and pulls it in a tight embrace with his face pressing against her chest.

"I could have lost you! I could have lost you!" she repeats a couple more times, each time being filled with more anguish in her tone.

He soon heard her begin to cry, wrapping her arms even tighter around his head as he felt her wet tears drip on his forehead. He stayed in that position for several minutes, not daring to move as his sister continued to sob on top of him.

Wendy would eventually calm down, letting him go in the process. Her eyes were red from all the crying as she sniffled to stop the mucus from dripping from her nose.

Morton reaches out and cusps the right side of her face, using his thumb to wipe the tears dripping from her eye sockets.

"I'm sorry." he sincerely apologizes, his grayish eyes gazing straight at her blue ones.

She stares at him for a moment, pressing her face onto his hand.

"Why'd you lied?"

"... You needed to leave or you'll get in trouble. I just… wanted to help."

She gazes back towards him, this time in astonishment, "You-You're speaking normally."

Morton lets out a raspy sigh, rubbing the top of his legs to ease his nerves, getting ready to confess what he's been hiding inside.

_Tell her everything. It's time to finally get this off your chest._

"I know you guys… didn't like it when I used to talk a lot, I could tell I was annoying all of you and making you all miserable. I kept telling myself that I should stop talking… So I did. I just… wanted you guys to be happy." he admits as Wendy listened closely.

"The day after we sold Larry's tricycle, I saw he was really upset and I wanted to cheer him up. So I bumped into him and talked to him about random stuff, even pulled some dumb jokes. But… I didn't know I was bothering him… until he yelled at me. And he told me that..."

A single tear slid down his cheek as he recalled the sentence that damned him for years, "Can you just shut up already?! Everyone hates it when you open your damn mouth, no wonder no one wants to adopt you or any of us!" He repeats every word permanently ingrained inside his head to a tee.

Wendy's eyes saddened at the confession, "Oh, Morton."

"When he said that, I just stood there and didn't say anything because… I knew he was right."

Her heart shatters at hearing her brother say that, "No Morton, that's not true."

"Wendy, it makes few times some parents actually came to the orphanage thinking of adopting us, they would scurry off right after meeting me cause I annoyed them too much with my constant talking. Then I'll see all of you glaring at me with so much… hate."

Water started to flood Morton's vision as sorrow overwhelmed his emotions, the venomous gazes of his siblings flooding his mind like needles piercing his skull.

"I didn't want you guys to hate me anymore! S-So I refused to talk for years, that was my _"personal choice"_ because I didn't want to ruin things for everyone I love. I tried my best to stay as quiet as I could, making sure I stayed out of the way. Now look at me, I'm dumb as a rock. I can't read, I can't write, the whole kingdom probably hates me after the whole food bank thing. I-I…" He trails off as more hot tears spilled from his sockets.

"Who am I kidding? You all would be better off if I never existed." He finishes as silent cries quickly become loud sobs as the cavern echoed Morton's anguish, years of bottled up emotions spilling out in full force.

The female Koopaling watches in heartbreak as she sees her younger brother bawl his eyes out. It's been a long time since she saw him cry like this, recalling his last tearful session ages ago. It was back at the orphanage, on that fateful day when Larry spat those words, when he questioned her if they were ever gonna get adopted… and she said no.

_All this pain Morton was hiding… and I played a part in it._

She grabs a hold of his hand and gently strokes his cheek, "Morton, look at me." She says, tilting his head to her direction.

"You are the greatest person I've been graced to have, not only to me, but to all of us. Larry, Lemmy, Iggy, Roy, Ludwig, Lord Bowser and especially Lord Junior are all grateful to have you around."

She tightens her grip of his hand, "I haven't been there for you when you mostly needed it, and I'm sorry for that Morton. But mark my words that will change starting today. Once we get home not only will I bake you a chocolate cake, but we'll eat it together in your room while watching a wrestling match or if you want, you can talk about whatever your heart desires while I listen closely."

Small teary eyes stared at her in bewilderment, "You-You'll listen to me?"

"Gladly, every word." She promises the giant Koopaling.

Morton smiled as he wiped his nose using his arm, sniffling a bit as he settled down, "Thanks, sis."

"Now, let's get outta here, brother."

Without missing a beat, Morton lifted her up and placed her on his shoulders again in quick succession.

"Where do we go?" He asks her, looking at the large area around them.

Wendy followed suit as she studied her surroundings. This old Goomba caverns Goombella was raving about was huge as there were several different pathways ranging from all directions.

"Not sure. But we'll get out of here… together."

Morton nods at her beaming confidence as he chooses a random pathway and begins their journey for the exit.

Unbeknownst to the retreating duo, the drill machine that fell onto the lake with them was still operating underwater. In some strange way, the machine landed on the sea floor in a good position as the contraption penetrated the ground about a foot deep. An thick black substance oozed out from the cracks, soon turning the clear blue lake pitch black.

* * *

Morton and Wendy searched around for nearly an hour as they continued to bump into dead ends in this maze of a historic landmark. The duo however continued to push on, not letting any setback demoralize their hope of escape.

There's an exit to this hellhole and by golly they were going to find it.

As if someone answered their prayer, the duo could distinctly hear a familiar sound. They followed the noise as it became louder and louder till they recognized it to be yells from a friendly boss they know.

"Get that damn exit open! What is taking you bozos so long!"

"Rodrick is trying, boss! But planks too strong!"

"Peter thinks this wood is unbreakable!"

"You better find a way to break it! Before I hit you both with my own wood…** ON YOUR FACE!**"

The siblings closed in closer to the source, eventually finding the exit to the cavern. It was blocked off by several wooden planks in a diagonal line, the late afternoon sky of red and orange leaked through the openings, lighting a small portion of the dark tunnel.

"Morton, look! Our freedom is right there!" Wendy said enthusiastically.

One of the miners heard Wendy's cheer and peeked through one of the openings, his eyes widened at seeing the two on the other side.

"Boss! Peter found them! They're here!" he warns the green spike behind him.

"Well don't just stand there! Help them get out!"

The two miners named Rodrick and Peter from what Wendy can assess, started to hit the wooden planks blocking the exit with their pickaxes. Morton and her helped out too as they tried pulling the barriers with their bare hands.

Whatever kind of wood this is made out of, it is strong as hell. The pickaxes were ineffective to the material that not even Morton (who can snap a log in half like it was nothing) could manage to break it.

A loud cracking sound boomed from within the cave, frightening everyone around. The miners and siblings halted their actions as a sense of dread overcame them. The vicinity shook violently like a large earthquake, causing everyone to lose their balance.

This proved to be too much to Rodrick and Peter as they scurried off, leaving the two Koopalings behind.

"Wait! Don't leave us!" Wendy called out to them, but her cries fell to deaf ears.

If that wasn't bad enough, the sound of falling rocks caught both their attention as they peered behind to see the pathway collapsing. They bestowed horrified expressions at the sight of crumbling debris closing in.

Morton removed Wendy from his shoulders and clutched her to his chest as he took ten steps back.

"Morton!? What are you doing!?"

"Trust me!" He said as he charged forward. Upon seeing what he was doing, Wendy pressed herself closer to his body as she awaited the impact, but at the last possible second Morton did a quick one eighty and bashed his spiky shell to the barrier, managing to obliterate it with commanding force.

The two barely managed to escape as the exit along with the old caverns collapsed into obscurity, blasting a mile wide dust cloud. Those around covered their eyes and began coughing as the ashes entered their sockets and airways, making it difficult to breathe and see.

As the dust cleared out, Wendy opened one eye and surveyed around spotting every miner huddled around them, stunned and relieved at seeing the Koopalings in the flesh.

She gazed down to find herself on top of Morton's chest who was trying to catch his breath at the near death experience.

They both stared at each other before going into a laughing fit, the siblings overjoyed in making it out in one piece.

The sound of muffling under Morton interrupted the moment, Wendy peaked behind his shell to find Goombella and the boss being squished below.

"May I kindly ask you _** *gasp* **_to remove yourself." Goombella politely said.

"**GET YOUR FAT ASS OFF OF ME!" **The boss spat.

Morton rapidly stood up, ready to receive a scolding from the boss until the area began to violently rumble again.

"Oh no! What now!?" Goombella cried as she tried to keep her balance.

Wendy and Morton instinctively clutched each other, bracing themselves for whatever was about to come.

In a blink of an eye, the mountainous ridge burst open like a volcano eruption, blasting out gallons among gallons of this mysterious dark liquid. The surge reached several yards high to the sky like a geyser as droplets began falling on top of the crowd below.

Raindrops of the substance coated everyone slowly, gradually staining their clothes and skin from head to toe. Wendy examined the liquid landing on her skin, immediately recognizing it by it's texture and it's smell.

It was petroleum… lots and lots of petroleum.

She scanned around to see everyone's reaction to this revelation, finding most of the miners gawking at the discovery and letting the liquid gracefully fall upon them like it was a rainy day. One even went as far as to stick his tongue out, a move he immediately regretted as he started gagging at the taste of it.

She spotted Goombella staring tragically at the entrance of the old Goomba caverns, heartbroken and woeful at seeing it completely destroyed. Morton on the other hand wasn't even looking at the spectacle, but gazing right at Wendy.

He places a hand on her shoulder and smirks joyfully at his sister, just content that they were alive to witness this event.

A glimpse of the boss walking past them catches their attention as the green spike trudged closer to the show in front of him, raising both his hands and tilting his head back in elation like he was worshiping a deity, not a bit bothered that his business suit was being stained and ruined by the oil.

"Gentlemen! You're getting paid tonight!" He proclaimed loudly to uproaring applause.

* * *

A private company specialized in collecting petroleum would arrive at their location, quickly heading to the source of the spilling and controlled it professionally by escorting the substance through a large tube and into several large gas tanks.

There were already two dozen gas tanks filled to its limit and they barely scratched the surface.

The big boss was ecstatic throughout all this, ignoring the profanities thrown at him by Goombella who was furious at the destruction of the caverns.

He barely registered anything she was saying, only catching a few words like_ "filing a lawsuit" _or _"you won't get away with this"_, but he didn't really care. Rightfully so as this newfound discovery practically transformed him from an entrepreneur to a Neo-tycoon.

Heck, he was in such a good mood that he decided to give all of his workers a nice raise as it'll barely be a dent in the wealth he accrued.

So here he was, setting up his little kiddie table and a couple of checkbooks at hand, getting ready to hand out a decent check for each of his employees.

"Alright men! Pick up your belongings, wash yourselves up and come back here to receive your well deserved payment." he said as everyone went to do as told.

Morton and Wendy went back up to the front entrance of the mine to retrieve their wands and phones, both relieved that their belongings weren't stained and damaged by the falling petroleum. The duo then decided to head to the nearby waterfalls to wash off the oil off their shells and bodies.

Though it seems that every other miner and their mother had the same idea.

Wendy wouldn't have been so bothered at the crowded group of men bathing the oil away if it weren't for the fact they were all butt naked.

The mere sight of dongs and buttocks ranging from all walks of life residing in the Kingdom drove Wendy to cover her eyes as her face flushed a deep red.

Morton immediately pulled her away from the scene and guided her to a more secluded location that only he knew about. The place was sort of a mini cave with it's very own little waterfall branching from the main one, forming a small lake about knee high, with the only source of light coming from the rigid entrance they had to squeeze through.

He explains to her that he discovered the area trying to find a private place to wash up from a long day of work because the guys back there tend to get too _comfortable_ with each other. Wendy chuckles at the newfound information before removing her shell, she pauses when she spots Morton retreating from the cave and questions him as to why he was leaving.

He tells her he was going to stand guard at the entrance so she can have time to herself while making sure no wondering eyes would try to take a peek of her in the nude, unless they wanted a face full of his knuckles.

She giggles at her brother's concern but tells him that it would be better if they washed themselves now since it takes a lot of time to scrub off petroleum without soap.

Morton hesitates at first, but obliges her command after she continues to pry him about it. He removes his shell and joins her, placing himself in front of the entrance so he could use his large frame to shield his sister from being seen from a possible onlooker.

During the bathing, he made sure to stay a conservative amount of distance away from her and kept his eyes looking at a different direction to respect her privacy just so she didn't have to feel uncomfortable with his presence.

Wendy smiles softly at her brother, unbothered with having him cleaning himself in front of her.

She recalls back in the orphanage days how she and her brothers would shower together due to the lack of hot water flowing through the old building. And if there weren't any, they'd simply go to a nearby river and bathe themselves there, an activity they'd do often on hot, humid days.

Although nowadays she tries to severely limit her exposure to seeing her brothers in their birthday suits, on the fact that their bodies are far different since they were children. The boys are growing into men and she's changing into a lady, so all of them showering together would be extremely awkward.

A bright idea popped in her head as she remembers a game they all used to play on the river. It basically was scooping as much water as they can using their own shells, and splashing it at each other.

A fairly simple concept of a game that they'd spend hours playing until the local fishermen would kick them out.

With Morton continuing to stare away, she stealthily tip-toes to her pink shell and fills it with water. Once that was done, she quietly struts to her unsuspecting sibling and splashes all of the liquid onto him.

He blinks in surprise, staring at her with wide eyes before bestowing a smug smirk. Wendy's mischievous smile quickly morphs into concern as she witnesses him pick up his massive black shell, filling it up with water that causes the lake to fall from knee high to mid leg.

Wendy shrieks as a tsunami crashes onto her, the impact knocking her back and landing on her tushie. She couldn't help but laugh hysterically at being completely soaked, but also noticed a good chunk of oil has washed away from her body.

_If we keep this up, we'll be oil free in no time._

Looking back at Morton, she could tell he was thinking the same thing.

"Up for a quick game?" asks Wendy.

"... Totally."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, the two siblings squeezed out of the secret cave, the both of them soaking wet and with most of the petroleum washed away. However, they still had the lingering smell of oil on their bodies. A thorough shower back home with the finest soap should take care of that.

It was now dark outside as the sun fully set with the moon and the stars taking its place. The sounds of crickets and the nearby waterfall gave the whole area a peaceful atmosphere. She makes a mental note to return to this place on a nice day as this would be a perfect spot to take gorgeous pictures for her social media.

When they ventured back to where the boss was at, they could see that nearly every other miner had already picked up their check and left, leaving behind the workers collecting the petroleum and some who decided to stay and help out.

The boss grinned widely upon seeing the two Koopalings, showing full fledged on how much in a good mood he was.

"Ah! There's my two money makers! You guys took a while cleaning yourselves up, I was contemplating on ditching and leaving the both of you with nothing!" He cackled loudly at his own joke.

Wendy and Morton chuckled awkwardly, the two of them unsure if he was truly joking of his intentions.

After he finished laughing, the boss handed Morton his check, "Here you go, don't try to spend it all in one place!"

Morton gazed at the check and signed the back of it with his signature before giving it to his sister. Wendy's eyes widened upon seeing the amount of eighty thousand gold coins marked on the check.

The green spike smirked at her reaction, "I told ya if you find me some petroleum everybody working here will have a big ass payday! But in all seriousness, both of you pulled your weight today and I'm extremely proud of that. I wish you two a safe ride home and- **GAH!**"

Before he could finish, Wendy would pull him in a tight hug, "Thank you so much you little bastard!" she cries as she hugs even tighter.

Morton couldn't help but laugh at the scene as he too decided to join the group embrace causing the boss to be squished even harder.

"Okay! Okay! You're welcome! Can you two let go of me and go home now!** PLEASE!**" The boss pleaded desperately as he felt his eyes were gonna pop off.

* * *

Wendy waved one last goodbye to the boss as Morton drove straight to the Castle, the two siblings eager to return home and take well deserved showers before they plaster their faces in chocolate cake.

Once they made it to the Castle garage, Wendy took a picture of both sides of the check with her bank app and sent it towards their database where it'll approximately take a day to confirm and transact the eighty grand into her bank account.

_Thank goodness it's easier to cash a check nowadays or I would've had to walk all the way to the nearest bank. *sigh* Technology is such a beautiful thing._

She also blasted a small spell on her sprained ankle with her wand, a spell she learned in college that is used to numb pain in inflicted areas. While her sprain was still present as she continued to limp with each step, she barely felt any ache or discomfort in that area.

With the ability to walk again, Wendy treads to her private bathroom as Morton heads to his own.

After making sure she doesn't smell like an oil rig, she heads to the Castle's large Kitchen and begins setting up the ingredients to make her specialty chocolate cake while Morton sets up upstairs.

While she could've called in the kitchen staff to do it for her, she decided against it as she absolutely adores to cook, mainly pastries and deserts. Plus, her brother's always praised the food she makes, telling her that no one can make food as well as she does.

With that in mind, she begins the process of her delicious masterpiece.

* * *

_**Two hours later…**_

She gazes at the chocolate cake through the oven screen, her stomach growling at the sight of the delicious looking pastry.

The ding of the alarm notifies that the cake is now complete and ready for consumption as Wendy puts on her oven mitts and opens it. The sweet, delectable smell penetrated her nostrils making her drool in bliss.

She carefully lifts the cake, cautiously making sure not to burn herself like she did a couple times in the past. Once she was clear of the oven, she raised the treat at eye level, gazing at the art piece in admiration.

_This is definitely the best I ever made._

Unbeknownst to her, there was someone loitering by the kitchen entrance, admiring the cake from afar.

"Makin' that cake for me?" The gruff voice called out to her.

Wendy nearly dropped the cake after being startled by the unsuspecting voice, luckily her quick reflexes managed to place the desert on top of the kitchen table in one piece.

Roy snickered at his little sister's clumsiness, "Hehe, appreciate the welcome back gift, I'm mighty hungry right now."

The buff Koopaling headed straight towards the meal, adjusting his pink sunglasses as the chocolate cake reflected on his lens. But just as he was gonna take a handful of the desert, Wendy would pull the whole dish away from his grasp.

"First off, this cake isn't for you, and second off, where the hell have you been? You've been gone for days, and now you turn out of the blue. Do you even know that Lord Bowser placed you in charge of the Koopalings?" she questioned him angrily.

"Course I know, that's why I'm here. As for me being missing for the last couple of days, I bumped into two chicks who were on a mini road trip and they were kind enough to allow yours truly to join them. Being the good Koopaling that I always am, I wanted to thank them for their generosity, so… all three of us had a good time." He said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Sadly for Wendy, she knew exactly what he meant, "Ugh… at least tell me you wore protection while doing the deed, the last thing this Kingdom needs is for half of the next generation being related to you."

"Hey now, I might no be as bright as you or the other two nerds, but I at least know how to keep myself safe during sex. Anyway, I'm starving, so can I please have a bite of that cake?"

He reached out for a handful, but she would once again pull it away from him. Roy growled in irritation, baring his fangs at his sister for continuing to keep the meal away from him.

Wendy however, stood her ground as she folded her arms and glared daggers at him, "I said it before, this cake isn't for you, it's for me and Morton only."

Roy's wrathful expression quickly morphed into confusion, "You and Morton? Since when are you two chill with each other? Ain't I no longer special to you?" He placed his hand on his chest, pretending to be hurt.

"Of course you're special to me Roy, even though you constantly give me headaches and basically a sex addict, you're my brother and I'll always love you. As for me and Morton, it's a long story but the gist of it is that he helped me with the money problem I currently have and I decided to bake his favorite cake as a thank you."

"I heard about your money problems, also heard that you and the old man were in a heated argument with each other."

"More like Lord Bowser was the one doing most of the scolding. But yeah, he wasn't too happy finding out about the money I owe, so he stripped me of the Koopaling leadership role and bestowed it to you. *sigh* It's fine though, I'm happy that you're leading us now."

Roy softly patted her arm in assurance, "Don't beat yourself too much sis, you were great as our leader! I for one was proud of following you for the time being, and I'm sure Ludwig is proud of you too." He softly chuckles, "Heh, shouldn't surprise me that my little sister was so good at it, you've been keeping us boys in check since the beginning."

She giggles warmly at the compliment, "You do know how to flatter a girl, Roy."

"What can I say, it's a gift. Tell ya what, if ya want, I could possibly help you out with this whole money thing." He suggested.

She paused in disbelief at what she just heard, if she heard it right, she could've sworn Roy was offering help. He never helps out anyone in his own self- accord… unless he gets something in return.

"You'd do that for me?" She cautiously asks.

_There's gotta be a catch._

"Sure… If you give me a slice of that cake, then I can assure ya."

_And there's the catch._

"Fine, here." she relented, giving him a slice of the cake.

Roy rapidly snatched it from her hand and devoured it like a wild animal, dozens of baked crumbs fell to the floor and his lips were stained in chocolate.

Wendy cringed at her brother's lack of manners, "I take it all back. Why do girls even like you?"

"A ripped body, experience and charm, sis." He said, showing his chocolate stained teeth and slowly licked them with his tongue for extra effect.

She shivered in disgust before continuing, "So what you got?"

"Just hit me up on Tuesday and help me with a task and I'll give ya all the money we earn, it's the least I can do for you." Roy finished, licking some chocolate off his fingers.

"Really! Thank you so much Roy!" She cheerfully said, getting ready to jump on him in a loving embrace, but she forced herself to stop.

Surprisingly, for someone who is sexually active and experienced in intercourse, Roy wasn't much of a hugger, usually doing all he can to avoid from being clutched, mostly from his siblings. It saddens her once she realized that it's been years since she wrapped her arms around him.

Noticing her sad expression, he rolled his eyes and let out a loud groan before extending his arms wide, "Alright, get in here. I know you like to be all touchy, touchy."

Wendy quickly accepted the invitation as she rushed in and gave him a tight embrace. Hugging her pink-headed brother felt like hugging a brick wall as his abs and chest muscles were rock hard, the burly arms wrapping themselves behind her felt like the arms of a massive beast clutching her in a protective grasp.

Heh, she now knows why a lot of girls like him, she feels like she's in heaven.

"This is nice." she said, closing her eyes in bliss.

"Yeah, yeah it is. I almost feel bad for what I'm about to do."

Her eyes shot wide open, "What are you gon-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Roy would turn her head and place a fat kiss on her left cheek, making sure to rub his chocolate filled lips all over it. Wendy recoiled away from him, but was far too slow as the left side of her face was smeared with chocolate.

"**GAH- ROY! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"** She yells in fury as her brother dashed away to his room.

"Later Sis! I love ya!" he yelled back before disappearing.

Wendy glares at the direction her brother ran off to as something was telling her to chase him down and kick his ass, but she remembers that Morton was waiting for her in his room. With that being said, she wipes her face with a napkin, picks up the chocolate cake and begins heading straight towards him.

_I'll get you back for this later Roy, just you wait._

* * *

_**Morton's Bedroom**_

Morton was currently jiggling around with the antenna, trying to find the correct position so that the Wrestling network could be seen clearly on the TV. After several attempts, he manages to display the channel on the screen with no sign of interruption.

And in the nick of time too as Wendy walks in with the chocolate cake on a platter.

"Special delivery!" She quips, carefully trudging her way to the mattress before sitting down.

Morton grins widely as he sits beside her, licking his chomps after setting his sights on the delicious meal she was holding. However, he lifts an eyebrow when he notices a slice was missing.

"Yeah, about that… Roy asked for a slice." Wendy explains after seeing his confused look.

He nods in understanding, not all that bothered by it, "It's ok, sharing is caring."

"Speaking about sharing, there's one slice for me…"

She cuts out a small slice and places it on a plastic plate.

"And the rest is for you." she finishes, handing the whole cake to him.

Morton's eyes widen at the offering, "But Wendy-"

"Trust me big guy, you've earned it." she cuts him off, placing the platter on his hands.

He looks down at the scrumptious chocolate pastry before gazing back at her with a bright smile, "Morton's very thankful."

The sound of the announcers introducing the wrestlers snapped both their attention to the TV screen, "The match is about to start!" Morton shouts in glee.

Throughout the night the two siblings watched and cheered at the multiple matches being broadcasted at the live event, placing bets on which wrestler would triumph over the other. With Morton being the ultimate wrestling fan that he is, he was right eighty-five percent of the time as Wendy won the upsets.

During commercials, Morton would talk about random stuff that pops in his head while Wendy paid close attention. He went on about how he really wanted to be a wrestler himself when he grew up and noted down any good nickname he could call himself. Wendy suggested the name _"The Enforcer"_ since that's his official military position.

Judging by the gleaming smile he gave, it was safe to say he loved it.

He also talked about rebuilding his relationship with the Darkland citizens, having the guts to learn how to swim, a keen curiosity in getting a P.h.D too if he could ever manage to reach that level of education, and potential love interests he wants to take a shot at, but struggles to gain the courage to ask. Wendy couldn't help but beam at her younger brother opening himself up like this after years of hiding it deep inside him.

This reminded her a lot of the orphanage days, where she and the rest of the Koopalings would gather around at night just to listen to Morton talk about anything his heart desires. His ramblings, while at times irritating were honestly a breath of fresh air to the ruff conditions they were living at that time.

She realized now on how much she missed it, and she sure hopes Morton will show the rest soon that the old Morton finally came back after so long.

_I'm sure everyone will be delighted at the new change. Lord Junior will definitely be jumping for joy at hearing him speak._

As time went on, the two siblings completely forgot about the TV playing in the background and enthralled themselves more in the conversation they were having together. After hours of non-stop talk, The last thing she remembers was resting her head on Morton's lap (Which felt like a very comfy pillow) while they were watching a cooking competition before she passed out from exhaustion.

Upon noticing her asleep, Morton turns off the TV and carefully slides his arms under her back, gently lifting her up in a bridal style position.

He calmly walks out of his room and heads to her bedroom, making sure not to move her too much in his arms and wake her up by accident.

While striding through the large hallway he spots his younger brother Larry limping towards his direction, his face bestowing a painful expression.

"Is Larry Ok?" Morton asks him with concern.

The youngest Koopaling smiled meekly at his older brother. "Lord Bowser punished me earlier today for stealing his porn magazine. Several slaps later and now my butt looks like this."

Larry turns around and shows him the after effect of his punishment as his whole rear had the mark of a massive claw tinted in dark red.

Morton grimaced at the sight, Lord Bowser's spankings were notoriously painful, almost like being slapped with several layers of concrete.

"Morton can tell it hurts a lot."

"Understatement of the decade, my ass is stinging like crazy. I don't think I'll be able to sit right for days." Larry joked, chuckling a bit till he noticed Wendy passed out on Morton's arms.

"So what's the deal with Wendy? She seems pretty knocked."

Morton went on to explain the day he and his sister endured from working for hours mining underground, to being entrapped in a tunnel, nearly drowning on a lake and being covered head to toe in oil. Larry listened on in fascination, completely intrigued by the adventure the two went through.

"Aw man! She baked her famous chocolate cake and I didn't even get a bite." Larry whined, disappointed that he didn't get to have a slice of his sister's pastry.

"Morton's sorry, Morton will ask her to make another cake."

"Nah, it's fine bro. After hearing what you two have been through today, you've earned that cake."

Morton gazes softly at his younger sibling, even though he said hurtful things to him in the past that affected most of his life, he was just glad to have him be a part of it. Wendy's sudden stirring and groaning brought her back to his attention as he gently rocks his arms up and down to keep her from waking up.

"Morton probably should take Sister Wendy to bed now."

"O-Oh, of course, forgive me for being in the way." Larry said, moving to one side.

Morton nods in respect as he continues his path to his sister's bedroom.

As he watches him walk past, Larry twiddles his thumbs in nervousness as he tries to have the courage to tell his older brother something he should've said a long, long time ago.

"Uh… Morton…"

The giant Koopaling pauses upon hearing Larry call his name.

"I know this will sound like it came out of nowhere and… many years too late, but I wanna say that I'm sorry for what I said to you back at the orphanage. I-It's something I deeply regret saying to you and it haunts me everyday."

Morton listened carefully, keeping the back of his shell at his direction.

"I know that what I said is the reason why you became quiet for years. If I could go back in time, I wouldn't have said those things to you… I'm real sorry, Morton." he apologizes with obvious remorse.

The hallway became silent as Larry anxiously waited for a response from Morton who still had his back turned to him. What he didn't know was the somber grin the giant koopaling had bestowed on his face.

_It's over. I'm free. I can move on now._

He tilts his head behind him and gives Larry the warmest smile he could muster, "It's okay Larry… I forgive you." he said before continuing his way to Wendy's room.

Larry stood there as Morton walked away, stunned and in complete disbelief after hearing him answer in the first-person.

It didn't take long for Morton to reach his destination as he opened her bedroom door and waltz inside.

With a lot of care, he gently sets her on her bed and covers her with a blanket so she wouldn't get cold. He stares down at his sleeping sister before nuzzling his nose on her cheek.

"Goodnight Wendy." He whispers, leaving her to a peaceful slumber.

_**5 DAYS TILL DUE DATE**_

_**TOTAL AMOUNT OWED: 400,000 GC**_

_**AMOUNT EARNED: 80,000 GC**_

_**TOTAL AMOUNT NOW: 320,000 GC**_

* * *

_**Author notes: **_

_**Morton's a good boi… enough said.**_

_**In this iteration, not only are Koopa shells like backpacks but they are also like clothes that can be taken off instead of being attached to the body. Hence why many of the Koopa's don't wear any fabric since technically their shells are their clothes.**_

_**Hope you liked the cameo appearance of Goombella from Paper Mario and the thousand year door.**_

_**Also pumped to hear that they added Dr. Lemmy to the Dr. Mario mobile game, and they hint that Morton and Iggy will come soon meaning the whole Koopa family will be playable!**_

_**Any feedback or criticism are welcome!**_

_**Original cover art is from shinygiratinas Tumblr.**_

_**Thank you all for reading!**_

_**Wish you all good health and stay safe.**_


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